Changing The World (Always Starts with Ourselves)
by PaulinhaKawaii
Summary: Ten-year-old Severus Snape finds by accident his mother's old trunks from her Hogwarts years. With no lost love for his parents and with a wand, books and an isolated life, he spends his days practicing charms and spells that can give him comfort, changing the way he lives and enjoy his life. Watch him grow up into a different person, but still killing people with his snarky mouth.
1. Chapter 1

**Pairings:** (Slash &Het)

(I'm still uncertain about the main pairing... But james/severus and sirius/severus will happen on this fic. I have just finished the second chapter and as I'll be writing all seven years of Hogwarts (not too detailed like day after of Severus days, because that type of fic turns too boring after some time...) so there's still time to decide the main pairing and see how this will go... I'll keep writing and if you take some interest in this fic you can help me and try to find the love that Severus deserves.. :3)

 **Summary:** In his tenth birthday, Severus finds by accident his mother's magical things and wand inside old trunks. However, before this could happen, in the same sad day, Severus loses the faith he had for his parents. So instead of learning magic to encourage his mother to be the witch she forgot she is and finally use magic to get them out of his drunken father's claws, he just secretly learns it to have some small comforts in life. Without knowing, wanting just to change the way he lives and enjoy his life, he changes the fate of the whole world.

 **A/N:** English is my third language, I'm still learning… And I don't have a beta. May god help us all.

 **A/N2:** BUT IF YOU WANT TO HELP ME I'LL BE VERY HAPPY.

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE**

 **~o~**

Severus was lying on his bed, looking at the ceiling and counting the number of cracks it had. If new ones appeared since the last time he was in this exact situation, playing a 'game' that has only one rule: "Try to stay in the game for as much time as he could". Well, what he could say? It's a simple game... He only needs to lie down and find the next crack in the walls and ceiling, keep track of the ones he already counted, try not think about how much everything in his body hurts from his last beating, wipe his tears to not blur his eyes to keep counting and try to not lose the game. Because it turns out that the bad part starts when he wins the game and then there's nothing else to do besides lie on his bed feeling the pain in his ribs, the still throbbing ache in his cheeks and the invisible hand squeezing his heart, making him feel empty inside, like there is nothing else to feel beside pain. So losing the game is a good thing because he keeps playing the game again and again from the start, stopping him from thinking of nothing else besides cracks in the walls as there's nothing he could distract his mind with.

When the pain subsides, a few hours later, and he can already feel the numbness overtaking his body and the sleep seeping into brain, is when he finally stops feeling, because by this point he is just so tired… Nothing else matters. When he gets like this, sometimes he ends sleeping for a long while, other times he just lies on the bed, apathetically thinking about his life, thinking about how each day of his sad and miserable life passes without nothing notice worth happening. Of course, his lonely routine is broken most of the time by a few slaps there, a whipping here… A punch, a cane, an insult. It is has no meaning, no explanation, no stopping.

Oh, Severus thought sadly, he had lost the game again with his wondering thoughts. He wants to restart it, but it's becoming hard to concentrate and open his eyes and count the numbers… So many numbers and-

His numb mind is brought back to the present by a familiar scream.

Severus sighs.

So the pain he endured for defending his mother was again meaningless... Why try? Oh, yes the sentiment of trying to defend his mother. Why still have it? They just lead to pain! She never reacts, she never acts or try to escape with him to some better place! Why she keeps living here and makes Severus live here with her?!

Another scream forces him out of the loop of angry thoughts he had wandered again into.

Today is his tenth birthday and it was not celebrated or remembered by anyone besides his own mother. He's sure his father stopped caring after his sixth and his mother trying to cook a decent cake to celebrate after last year disaster. Today, she only gave him a cupcake she bought yesterday and some peppermint candies. Is he complaining? No, the cupcake was sweet and tasty. But is he sad? It is enough to say that sometimes he wishes he could just disappear and never come back… But the question is where to? Where he could go? To the cold London streets? A poor orphanage? To the streets of the wizarding world? Every single option he has thought about leads to a worst life even if it's away from his father.

Even kids who doesn't know they are muggleborns, and still has their bursts of accidental magic, can live with a family who hates magic, because they just don't despise their child completely like he is with his muggle father. Thinking about this, he can only remember of last month, when he went out to walk - he actually went out to think in a place he could escape - he saw a curious scene: two girls, sisters, fighting because one of them is a witch but neither knew or understood. But he's sure that even if the envious little muggle makes the witch's life a living hell he doubt it could be worse than his... At the time, when he was watching the fight, he almost went to the redhead girl to say she was actually a witch and not a freak like the other girl was sputtering. But he didn't bother to do it, his was too shy and awkward for him to try and participate in fights with other people… Well, he did kind of feel guilty over it now. He should have talked to the other girl and explained the little he knew about magic… But as he went to search for her another time in their public school, he saw her with her group of snobby friends and his guilt evaporated just like that.

A door was slammed shut, the noise was loud and it felt near him, so Severus knew for experience that both of his parents are now inside their bedroom. Sighing, he knew it was all right for a few minutes to go downstairs and look for something to eat and make it pass as a diner. Carefully, because it was still a bit difficult to leave his bed, mindful of his hurting ribs, he opened his bedroom's door slowly, paying attention to his parents' voice even if he could only hear the sounds of abuse he wished he could block and never listen to it again.

Going to the kitchen takes much longer than usual, but when he finally gets there, he looks quickly for food. Unfortunately for him, he also takes a lot of time to find at least a small hidden piece of bread and waiting for the water to boil to make a cup of tea, because he was finally leaving the kitchen with his tasteless piece of bread and his hot cup of tea, he heard the familiar sound of his father's heavy footsteps making the steps of the cripple stairs creak.

Thinking fast, not knowing if his father was heading to the kitchen or the living room, Severus runs to the basement door, trying to be careful to not burn his fingers. Opening and closing it as quickly as he could, he almost cried with happiness when the door didn't creak loud, because by rule everything in this house creaks. He almost jumped when his father voice sounded next to the basement's door, awfully close to him, complaining about not having good food prepared for him by his good for nothing wife.

Trying not to listen to his father insulting his mother, Severus looked around himself and found, with the help of the poor light from the kitchen brightening the room, the basement's lamp switch in the small wall that ended just after the first five steps. After switching it on, he went down the stairs being as silent as he could, going further into the badly illuminated room. Blood rushing in his ears and heart drumming, he quickly realizes there's nowhere to hide if his father decides to open the basement's door. So he tries to stay calm, supporting himself on the handrail for a moment before looking for a place he could wait and stay hidden. Analyzing the room, the only good place is beside the stairs where he could almost be safe if father bustles through the door.

But as he makes a turn to look at the place besides the stair he suddenly has a voice in his head ordering him to look somewhere else. Severus frowns at the weird sensation and forces himself to look and keep looking. However, as he attempts to come closer, the voice keeps getting louder and louder until the moment he finally stands in front of the wall and touches it. And just like that, the voice is gone and he can see three ordinary trunks.

Confused for only noticing them now, he tests them a little before sitting on one of them. Well, that's was weird! He shrugs at his imagination and starts to relax a little because thank god he wasn't caught yet. And still had time to grab something to eat before his drunk father came to the kitchen for whatever reason... Besides insulting his mother and complain about the quality of his imaginary food.

Eating slowly, Severus tries to guess for the nth time why he is not allowed to come down here. It's not even locked, he just learned to not come here after a lot of beatings from his father and terrible scolding from his mother. He was not permitted to enter at all until last year and the whole three times he came here was only to help his mother to clean a little of the dust and cobwebs off the room. And he was there just to clean the stair!

So that's why after finishing his tea, he starts to look for something interesting that must be stored in this room. He examines every single thing, but could only find broken chairs, broken things, old clothes, more broken things! He gave up in with humph and went to sit on top of the trunk again feeling cheated.

"Why would mother and father never allowed me in here? There must be something!" Severus complains in a whisper. He looks around the room again just to make sure - and jumps from where he is sitting in realization! "The trunks!"

Severus smirks while looking with satisfaction at the trunks. He's sure he's going to find something good inside them! But what? Severus tries to guess but can't come with any idea… Not wasting any more time, Severus unlocks the first trunk and is greeted by the sight of dozens and dozens of books! But the strange thing is that the spine of the books are the size of a pen! What?! Without thinking twice he goes for a random book, but the moment he grabs the book and pulls it out, the feel of the book and its look does not match at all. It's not until the book is out of the trunk when he sees the size of the booking growing and matching what he feels in his hand!

"Is this a magical book?! It must be!" Severus is so happy he can almost cry! He looks the title of the book and confirms his theory. The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 3. This is his mother's magical books from when she was a student! Putting the book in the same vacant spot, he watches it re-sizes itself in front of his eyes! He gets two more books before he convinces himself that the books have magic and not are just that thin as it appears.

Upstairs in the kitchen, his father shouts with his mother again and Severus winces, remembering why he ended up here in the first place.

Deciding to look at the books later, he'll read every book in that trunk if he can, he goes immediately to look the contents of the next trunk. And as soon as he opens it, he's amazed by all the strange things there are inside it as well ordinary like brushes, mirrors and diaries. He looks at the possible magical things more eagerly, but doesn't dare to touch anything yet so he chooses to grab the most innocent looking of all of them: a rectangular black box. Opening it he sees a black wood twig that is- This is a wand! He has only seen it in two or three glances before his mother hiding it in a much earlier childhood, when his mother still talked about magic. But a beautiful polished wood inside this old trunk in the middle of his mother's magical things… It is definitely a wand!

He grabs the wand carefully with his right hand and as soon as his skin touches the wood, a rush of feelings run through his body, a cold breeze like sensation involving him as in a hug while his heart fills with warmth and his fingertips tingles, making him giggle with glee. All of this during no more than a few seconds but it was unquestionably the best feelings he had ever felt! How his mother could turns away from this to live with a man who despises magic?

Severus takes a breath and tries to think more clearly, running his tongue over his chapped lips, he tries to ponder if it's worth the punishment for his mother finding the wand with him if she looks for it. Well, he can't exactly do magic… As his mother explained briefly to him, the magic he had done in the past is called accidental magic and is different from controlled magic; meaning that for a person to do magic, they have to study to control their "magical core". Whatever could that be?

With the wand still clasped in his hand, he peeks inside the third trunk finding a lot of clothes, some shoes and hats, but nothing too interesting… So he soon closes its lid and promptly return to the trunk with books in it.

He tries to read the titles of the books while they still are in their smaller size, but it's completely impossible. So he chooses again a random book and eagerly reads its title: Beautifying Charms for a Young Witch by Iggy Gergilin. "Ewww, no! Why, mother?!" Severus complains with a disgusted voice. Well, not the best luck with this first book. Putting it back in place, he goes for the next random book: Charms and Spells for Newlyweds without House-Elves: Maintaining a Home by Arcturus Briffin. Severus huffed feeling frustrated, there isn't a single useful book! Not particularly happy about the book subject, he still doesn't put it away and decides to at least skim it a little because House-Elves! What are those? Do elves truly exist?

As he reads the first page, disappointment starts to creep in, because there's no mention of Elves! But after reading the books contents page, he has to admit that most of chapters contains a lot of useful stuff that could be really good to learn… If they are really as useful as they look to be. He reads it again to be sure.

 **CONTENTS**

 **1\. Overview**

1.1 Cleansing Previous Magic

1.2 Planning the Usage of Rune Rocks or Self-Sustaining Spells

1.3 Choosing Between Charms and Spells

1.4 Why Using Layers is The Best Option

 **2\. Temperature Control**

 **3\. Cleaning**

 **4\. Monitoring**

 **5\. Organization**

 **6\. Solutions for Specifics Rooms**

6.1 Kitchen

6.2 Library

6.3 Nursery

6.4 Bedroom

6.5 Bathroom

6.6 Garden

 **7\. Fixing and Repairing**

He doesn't want to hope too much, but if he could at least learn to do magic to give some small comforts to his life like keeping his room warm during dire winters… He could be a much happier person.

Leaving the book and the wand in the floor besides where he is kneeling, he searches for more useful books. But after a few lame books, he's already losing track of which books he picked. So instead of picking random books he will work by position order: starting by the top left, he picks the first book and finds The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1! Holding a happy squeak, because he does not squeak, he puts the good find in his goodies pile. One soon followed by another and few others, he has separated seven books before stopping himself… Because how is he going get all of them to his room and keep them hidden? Seven books is a good start.

Closing and locking the trunks just like he found them, Severus puts the wand inside his pants and with some struggle he holds the pile of books. Walking slowly because his extra charge, he climbs the stairs, switch off the light and tries to peek through the key's hole of the door. Unfortunately, he can't see nothing of the kitchen, only the living room. So he puts the books back on the floor and sit on top of them to wait for his father to leave.

He wakes with a start, looking around for what could have caused the loud sound that woke him up. Finding himself still pressed against the door, he realizes with relief that the source of the noise was his father drunkenly kicking the chairs at the table. A good sign for Severus, because Tobias every now and then likes to kick things before going to sleep.

A few minutes later, Severus finally locks himself in his room and just for precaution hides the books covered by a threadbare sheet under his bed.

This night he sleeps with a smile on his face.

Despite his shattering teeth and frozen bones, Severus wakes up that morning feeling like dancing. Which is odd, because he had never danced in his life. But anyway… Magic! He'll learn magic!

Going downstairs to only drink water and make tea to drink while reading, Severus runs back to his bedroom and cracks open the book containing to spells he's most needed: temperature control.

Reading carefully the whole first chapter of the book, not understanding more than the half of the words and concepts, he reads with double care the second chapter. It's then that he comes across the best and simple spell he can cast in his room: Commodus Esttemperatus. Reading its correct pronunciation then he sees three small boxes that he already knows it shows the movement of the wand.

After repeating the spell out aloud a dozen times and practicing the movements with a pen, Severus feels prepared to cast the spell.

"Commodus Esttemperatus", says Severus confidently while doing the precise movements with the wand, pointing it to the ceiling after casting as the instructions said. And… Nothing happens.

He casts the spell again… And a third time. The fourth time trying to cast the spell he knows it has definitely worked in the moment he points the wand to the ceiling. It's not abrupt, but the temperature raises from its ridiculous near 39°F (4°C) to what's supposed to be: the comfortable room temperature of 70°F(21°C).

Feeling like he could fly, Severus cuddles with the wand in his bed and enjoys the lack of freezing air with glee. He lays lazily in the bed for just a couple of minutes before he gathers courage to pick the book and read it from the start again. The best part of the book is that each mention of a spell or a charm has alongside it the correct pronunciation, intonation and its wands movements.

A couple of hours later when he starts to feel starved and his belly aching, he checks the clock and seeing it's already 2:15pm, way past lunch time, he tucks the wand and books away and go downstairs to see if his mother has prepared something for lunch. Therefore, as he arrives in the kitchen and sees it in the same state since last night, a statement that his mother hadn't even left her room, he tries not to feel too much disappointment and goes to fix something for himself. His only consolation is that he's going to test a charm he read about it in the book: Engorgio. Although in the book it was used as example to enlarging fruits for decorations purposes, he wonders if he can cast it in one of the butter cookies and make it huge!

He explodes two cookies.

And only having two other cookies left and a dry toast to eat with a cup of milk, he forces himself to really concentrate on the charm and not give up... Or he'll be hungry until dinner. Using his mind eye to create a huge cookie, he focus on this visualization as he casts the charm a third time. It works!

Severus is extremely pleased with himself as he looks at his mouth-watering watermelon sized butter cookie! Without reservations, but still not sure if it will be tasty, he grabs it with his two hands for support and bite a large chunk. The sweet cookie melts in his mouth and is as delicious as the original cookie!

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Severus chanted almost deliriously as he keeps eating his tasty and giant cookie! He giggles feeling so much like the ten years old he is but sometimes forgets.

It's definitely the best day of Severus life.

* * *

Did you like it?

I had the idea of this fic because I wanted to make Severus a much happier person. As you can see he still has a shitty childhood, but I wanted to present magic to him like something too awesome to use it to fuel his hate for his father and muggles. Putting myself in his place I thought that the first thing I would try to use magic to have some comfort or even more food... So this is the result. He will not be flowers and sunshine... But less bitter and sad. He's still be sorted in Slytherin for a reason.

That cover picture of the fic is from marinamichkina, she has beautiful works and I adapted one of them to make this. Check her work out if you can!

Bye!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes** : I thought that first chapter sucked, but I got some encouraging and awesome reviews! And I got so excited that I couldn't wait until next wednesday! So I'm posting it now! *m* Thanks hwyla (that english tip was awesome!) Pumpkinpie473, Severus Taisho, PiffyEQ (severus will not be a DE) and Hime-chan Natsumi (Hey girl, I speak portuguese and spanish, and currently working on my english and swedish. :)! Thank you all so much for the support! s2

But let's clear some things up before starting this chapter...

~Underage use of magic: As a child living with an adult wizard, using Eileen's wand already gives Severus protection enough against the ministry's trace. When he gets his wand at eleven, if he performs anything with it it'll get detected. But as Severus will be made aware of it when he gets one, he will keep training with his mother's wand over the summer. Parents are supposed to have control over the children, so the ministry can't do much on magical families. Remember that Harry was blamed because dobby used magic in private drive? Magic detection doesn't really know who casts the magic... As I see it, when you are using a wand without trace you can only be detected in one way: when casting magic in muggle location and breaking the secrecy. Example? Again with Harry's case, he's in a muggle house and muggles saw magic being used, thus breaking the secrecy. If he was in a public location ministry aurors would come, but as he was in his home, they immediately assumed it was him who casted the magic.

~Changing Severus's looks: he doesn't have the crooked nose yet, because I'm think he'd have it broken later on when his father abuse would be more bad. About his skin and hair: by having more access to a better hygiene he progressively changes his oily hair and skin problems... When he gets to Hogwarts he'll definitely look like a healthy person... And a _cute_ one. :3 lol

~Who wants cutie severus?

That's what I thought. :D

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

 **~o~**

Being able to perform one spell and one charm after only one day of studying, makes Severus proud of himself and it helps him to imagine a future where things could be so much better. Even if during dinner that night, he faces the reality of a future in which he has to keep everything to himself… It's sad not being able to say how happy he's feeling for what he has accomplished. However, he knows it's wise to keep it quiet and don't say anything to his parents and provoke a fight between them by doing so.

They are eating chicken soup in total silence when suddenly an argument breaks between Tobias and Eileen about the mailman and their wet correspondence! Severus is baffled by how they are able to turn a single comment in a full fight in less than five seconds... But for the first time, he is glad they are distracted, because he uses their lack of attention to hide the warm diced chicken of his soup in his left hand while he keeps eating with his right. As it starts to feel disgusting holding his chicken in his bare hand, he finishes his soup quickly and runs from the kitchen, going back to his room to cast an _Engorgio_ on the diced pieces of chicken. But this time he doesn't want a giant chicken breast, so he's going to use the trick he did when he cast the charm successfully last time. So instead of visualizing a giant piece of chicken, this time he visualizes them to be just the size of a mouthful, about 3 times they currently are.

Predictably, he helplessly fails the first six tries, thus creating two melon sized chicken breasts and four explosions. By the sixth he has enough chicken to feed a big family! But with the seventh try he finally gets his perfect mouthful sized chicken. He eats the small piece with smugly satisfaction while he gazes the three giant ones. And just like that, knowing that he can accomplish different sizes for his food, it becomes routine for him to always keep something of his meal to _Engorgio_ and eat later, filling to the brim the empty space in his stomach he was used to have after meals.

Unfortunately, because the three days from now is already January 12th (of 1970), when his classes starts again for the new term, he has only three more full days to study magic. So he _enjoys_ his Friday morning reading the section of the Newlyweds' book about specific spells to use on the bathroom. And that's how he finds a four-step method for cleaning a bathtub that gets it completely and sparkly clean: First you conjure a jet of clean water using _Aguamenti_ , boils the water for a long time with _Flagration_ , vanishes the dirty water with _Evanesco_ , and finally cast the _Scourgify_ cleaning charm. But the best part of all this? If he learns the four charms correctly, he can use _Aguamenti_ and a low intensity _Flagration_ to have a good and warm bath before going to school and before going to bed… Or even in the afternoons if his mood strikes!

But back at learning those charms… It's not easy. And if there's one thing he knows now about magic is that nothing comes too easy. You have to practice to be really sure about what are you doing for your magic respond accordingly. So it's not a surprise to him that he struggled to perform correctly the charms. However, the feeling of accomplishment is great when he does the entire cleaning method successfully on Monday morning. And the bath that followed was reward enough for his efforts.

 **~o~**

Being back to school, walking by its corridors or during classes, Severus now could easily endure the children's aversion of his person because now, more than ever, he knows he's better than everyone else. He's unkempt, dirty and poor, but he's a wizard. Therefore he doesn't let himself be affected by their taunting. And the fact that he'll remove the "unkempt and dirty" from his attributes with magic, helps to maintain his confidence...

Since the new term has started, his afternoons and mornings are used to study and do his homework from school, so at night he can be completely devoted to study and practice magic as much as he can before falling asleep. This schedule works, so he obeys it religiously for the months that follows. Alongside with this study routine he makes himself fulfills, he has a new one where he cleans his clothes daily, cleans the bedroom and the bathroom weekly, and sometimes he even cleans other parts of the house. But he doesn't take too much risk by cleaning the living room or the kitchen, only when the opportunity raises he casts lots of _Scourgify_ to try to keep the place in order.

Severus bets his magic that the boys from school would have a field trip with knowing he spends so much time cleaning his house… But no matter how odd it seems, he doesn't feel like a freak for wanting to have his things and house clean. He spent so many years surrounded by dirt and dust that now he can clean it, he does it freely! He doesn't stop with only cleaning the rooms, tough. After that first warm bath, he made a habit of doing it constantly and the result of his long baths is a refreshed and sparkly clean Severus. Feeling clean is a new sensation to Severus, and so good that he uses everything he has learned to keep him feeling fresh like the first time. Surprisingly, two changes happens because of this new routines: the children from school stop sneering at him too much and his own father stops calling him "dirty boy" even if still calls him "useless boy" now and then… After all his father will never change.

His mother, on the other hand, didn't show any reaction to the changes at all. He has always known that she was wasting herself away, letting days pass with nothing of importance happening to distinguish them. But to not even realize the difference in her own house? Her own son? She is the one who had all the amazing books about taking care of things in the first place! He wonder sometimes what truly have happened to his mother, because there's no amount of abuse that can make a witch forgets about magic… Or there's?

Thinking about his mother always leaves him sad, and it's why he avoids to even look at her. He avoids his father too for the matter, spending his days studying in his room or even studying while taking long hot baths. Except for the days that he does absolutely nothing, just enjoying the new quietness that his mind has acquired during the silent months of studying and concentrating in his magic.

School is finished for the term, summer starts... And nothing changes too much except that now he doesn't have to study school. And when the summer ends, taking away the long days of bathing under the sun studying or just lazing, Severus started to feel rather melancholic and with a hole inside his heart. He's like this because during summer, when he was laying on the branch of his favorite tree, far from the other children of the playground, he started to connect with his magic and be immersed in it for hours!

Being immersed and connected if your magic is like swimming in river. In one of those 'sessions', when he was 'swimming' in his magic he tried to expand from his body just for curiosity when he felt It. Gaia, Earth, Terra... Whatever you want to name It. But when he touched It, when his _magic_ touched It, he felt connected with every living thing that surrounded him. It was the warmest, greatest feeling a person could ever feel. He felt peace and love like he never have felt... Connecting with It made him feels like a _plant_.

He's not kidding at all. Really! But it's not how you are thinking… Feeling like a _plant_ is feeling like nothing else in the words matters, every single cell of his being is just dedicated to feel the life running through itself, bathing in the sun, rooted on Earth.

Loud laugher near him from the children always wakes him up from his trance. He wants to feel rage at them, but after a deep connection with his magic there's nothing on the world that can makes him have bad feelings. He feels too elated and in peace to even considering feeling angry. And it's just too bad that melancholy can still be experienced, because he could go a week without it… But as there's days that his only words are incantations, melancholy and sadness seeps into his mood leaving him feeling like…

Severus is a lonely boy.

Not by choice, mind you. He admits it to himself while he walks back home from the playground, watching other people chatting, laughing, making jokes, story telling… It's a smothering feeling if he lets himself think too much about it. As much as magic fills his heart, there's always a part of it that has never stopped wishing for a caring and loving mother, a protective father, friends to laugh with…

Severus cries sometimes in the bathroom, soaking his tears in the bathtub. Crying until his eyes hurt as much as the hurting he feels inside himself.

He's only ten… It's hard not to cry when you feel there's no one for him in this big world. Laughing alone, playing alone… Walking, joking, crying, eating… He lives alone surrounded by people.

It's just too hard sometimes to fight... He's only ten.

But he always keeps fighting, as he had heard some time ago: _"You only need to keep fighting."_

And fight he does.

 **~o~**

Severus laughs watching his cat Lord Sneaky being confused, looking around himself trying find where the plush mouse went. It's mean to do it, but it doesn't matter how many times he has done it, Lord Sneaky can never see the moment when Severus _Accio_ the mouse to himself and throws it in another direction for the cat to hunt it again. Thus, leaving the car baffled every single time Severus does it.

Lord Sneaky mewls angrily before going to hunt the mouse for the third time. Severus laughs again.

For those who were not there when Lord Sneaky was rescued and brought to the Snape household, it suffices to say the story is just "too complicated" to explain... Not that he doesn't want to tell where or when he came across the poor starved kitten. The problem is if you ask _why_ he was there in the first place, that's how it gets complicated. The story cut short is that Lord Sneaky was found sleeping beside a dumpster in an alley… When Severus was stealing a cake.

If there's one thing that he's not proud of is stealing. He knows it's wrong, he knows he shouldn't do it just because he can and can get away with it… But you can't conjure food, as it's one of the five Principal Exceptions to the Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. Food can be multiplied, enlarged or it can be summoned if one knows the approximate location… But you can't make it out of thin air. For a hungry kid without food at home and who knows how to cast an _Accio_ with his mother's wand, is just too easy to fail in resisting the temptation! And in Severus defense, it took seven months of going without food for some periods of time (even with him storing _Engorgio_ 'd food) before he stole for the first time some veggies in a stand for himself and his parents.

The second time, though, there wasn't the excuse of not having food, but rather to avoid going without it. He just stole again, and again until he was stealing fruit and veggies once a week, doing it just like his routine to clean his room. But until then, he had only stole fruits and veggies, never superfluous food to himself, because they are the only food he risks bringing home and counting on his parents not paying real attention to where they have come from. Both mother and father always take turns to buy these kinds of food from time to time… Making it easy for Severus to bring home some without suspicion.

On a hot Saturday morning of July, Severus went for a _walk_. No homework to distract him at home, or food to eat, he decided it was a good time to try to find some food to bring home. Which he found pretty easily and in only one hour and five stands later, he had in his pocket shrunken versions of potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, bell peppers and apples! Happy with his finds, he walks back home without rush, just enjoying the weather and the busy life of people surrounding him… He was only some streets from home when he scented the sweet smell of cakes and sweet pastries of an open windowed bakery with beautiful, delicate cakes and colorful sweets.

Seeing the vulnerable cakes and sweets made Severus almost _ache._ He wanted to eat something of that display... He tried to keep walking, to don't have ideas, walk away... Walk away... But he just _couldn't_ _resist_ hiding himself in an alley nearby, waiting for the right moment to cast a _Reducio_ on a chocolate cake and immediately summoning it to himself.

The tiny cake was beautiful and as small as it was, he still could smell the sweetness that he was eager to taste. Cautious with the little cake in his hand, he was standing up to leave the alley when he heard a pitiful mewl from somewhere near him.

Since that moment, he has find in Lord Sneaky the friend he never had. Nurturing the kitten to a healthy condition was easy with his magic's help, but it only made the process faster, because giving a good portion of food everyday and some showers did all the _magic._ Turning a meek and shy kitten into a full active and sweet cat, who loved giving cuddles to Severus as much as Severus loved cuddling with him.

Unfortunately, stealing did not stop with only food. Severus did not have and couldn't make a excuse this time, knowing perfectly what he was doing. Does it matter that he was really needing new clothes that could actually leave him warm inside it? Winter is coming and heating charms casted on his threadbare clothes only last two hours in a lucky day before fading. Thus his only option to not die with frostbitten is stealing... But no, he does not need people calling him a disgusting criminal because he already know that he is and has felt like one the moment he stepped inside the department store of Cokeworth Co-operative Society with a _Notice-Me-Not_ charm on himself.

After looking around the boy's section for a long time he finally decided to take a comfortable pair of black lace boots, a black cloth coat, a white button-down shirt, six shirts: two white, two dark green, two black, three sweaters: one gray, one red, one caramel tan, black socks, white underwears and two black cotton trousers.

The list is quite big, but he was "giving" himself his Christmas and birthday presents that he could make last for years and years... Because seriously, even toilet paper he was saving and cleaning his own butt with magic so there's one less thing his father has to spend money on instead of food!Severus is through being upset about his father spending his money on pubs and gambling, never saving money to buy something new to the house or the family. And don't let him start talking about his mother… Almost a full year has passed and nothing has changed! All this time she never suspected of her wand being missing or that her son was using magic everyday! Never once asking how her own son was feeling or doing!

 _Okay, going back at not thinking about my parents..._

Arriving home after hours of walk, Severus went straight to his room not minding the violent discussion happening in the living room. Giving some treats to Sneaky that he had collected, he went to the bathroom to draw a herbal bath. The mix of Calendula (for soothing the skin), Lemon Balm (stimulating and refreshing) and Rosemary (for cleansing) makes the perfect bath for him. As he doesn't have money to spend on soap, he had spend some days searching for a solution in his mother's books, when he encountered a book about herbs being used for everyday purposes… Liking the idea about using them to bath, he spent lots of days searching for herbs, but after he found this mix he had never changed.

And talking about personal hygiene… Severus kind of read the book _Beautifying Charms for a Young Witch by Iggy Gergilin_. But it was necessary! Like the toilet paper, he didn't want his father spending money when he did have the solution using magic! The book has useful cleaning methods to every part of a person's body! He could now wash and condition his hair, brush his teeth and trim his nails in simple movements with his hand! Who doesn't want that?! It makes life so much easier when you have to wake up early to go to school…

As for school, he has a plan to save money by not needing to buy his grade books for this term. After receiving the list of books in the first of classes, he did not deliver it to his mother or his father. Instead he came home saying that he would receive them for free, because there's a program in school that gives free books for the students who had the highest scores in the previous year. The reality is that he would wait until the books became available in the library, and one by one he would cast the _Gemino_ charm and get a free copy to himself!

Yes, Severus is clever. Thank you for the compliment.

Oh, and one thing worth mention about his fall classes starting is the fact that no one recognized him when they first saw him! But when they did, they just didn't bother paying attention to him anymore… As he actually looks completely different than the last term, even if he was already much better than the previous years. But now that he had new clothes, was sparkly clean and left his hair grow to just past his neck, it didn't give a chance to people easily recognize him! Or have something to bully him about and start a fight... Not that he would enter a fight with _muggles_ anymore, because along his new appearance, he has become a much more calm person and to show how much better he's than those simpleton and ordinary people, he does not bait on any one taunts when provoked. He speaks mildly politely to everyone and just disappears between the crowd.

If you are too ugly or too beautiful, too polite or too disrespectful you'll stand out. And standing out to Severus was never a good thing, so he just do what is expected of a poor kid, not being worth mention, and just being there... It makes things easy when people easily ignore and forget about you, going home to enjoy a good cuddle session with Sneaky and practice magic without conflicts and drama. Making life and attending school a much more pleasant experience.

 **~o~**

On the Christmas Eve of that year, Severus could be found reading the book _Organizing Your Mind While You Meditate by Julius Valerius_ in his room with Sneaky on his lap, petting the thick fluffy white fur until he started to purr happily. Sometimes, when Severus became too engrossed in the book and forgot to keep petting, Sneaky would immediately protest, making Severus lose concentration on the book and start to pet him again. He had just calmed Sneaky down, when someone knocked on his bedroom's door. Before he could ask who knocked, he recognized his mother's voice.

"Severus," Eileen called before announcing. "I'm opening your door."

As she said, she soon opened the door. But just a little and didn't even enter the room, just stood on the threshold looking at him.

"Mother?" Severus questioned curiously. "Do you need something?"

"No, nothing…" Eileen said with a quiet voice, sounding like she was nervous. "I was just wondering if you would like to come with me to watch a street choir singing some Christmas carols… There's one performing near and I don't if you would want to watch… They are just on next street. Do you want to come with me?"

Severus was shocked. The last time she spoke this much with him was months ago when summer started! Schooling his expression to not appear so shocked, he blinked slowly, looking at his mother as if he was thinking about what she asked. He was actually thinking about it… Damn. He wants to go out with his mother.

"Yes, mother, I would like to come… Are we leaving now?" Severus asked while he subtly lifted Sneaky from his lap. The cat is with a _notice-me-not_ charm and it would be suspicious if Eileen couldn't look at whatever Severus was carrying in his hands.

"Yes, we are," Eileen replied with a small smile on her face. "I'll get my coat while you get something warmer to wear, is that good? I'll see you downstairs in a bit."

"Ok," Severus answered and gave her a short nod. Seeming satisfied, his mother left the room, closing the door softly. Severus quickly went to change his old clothes for his new ones, dressing in his caramel tan sweater and the black trousers, quickly lacing his boots and grabbing his coat, he soon was joining his mother downstairs and rushing to leave the house.

"Severus," Eileen called after less than few minutes after leaving the house. As Severus looked at his mother expectantly, she continued to talk. "I have being keeping it quiet for a while, but I can't help but notice that all the cloths you wear you leave the house looks new…"

Severus blood turned into ice as he listened his mother talking. Yes, he knew that his conversation would come. But he wasn't _that_ good in straight telling lies, so Merlin help him. Because he'll need.

"Yes, mother. Haven't I told you? I thought I already had… Before the end of classes in May, the school received a charity bazaar for the poorer students like me, to get us prepared for the fall and winter classes." Severus said without a hitch, as he was talking about the weather… Or telling the truth as he should be.

"I didn't hear about that, Severus…" Eileen said with a frown.

"The charity wasn't promoted by the others parents or anything like that… It was an organized by the city co-operative society. They brought the clothes to school... Don't you remember that I have received free books also? It was from the same organization that promoted the bazaar." Severus said dismissing his mother worry. "I was one of the first students to try the clothes, and as I'm the smallest I got a lot of more clothes than the other boys because they are a lot bigger than me…" He said with a pleased voice, but still acted as if he was embarrassed over the fact he was the smallest.

Well, he really doesn't like the fact he _is_ the smallest of his group. But even with all the food he has been eating lately he still haven't grown or fattened, so he just accepted that he's fated to be small.

"Oh, well… I still don't remember you talking to me about this." Eileen said still frowning a little, as if still thinking something to say. But before she could say something more, they arrived to the street choir presentation and joined the small crowd of people listing the performance.

The choir was good. They were really good and Severus couldn't even try do deny this and say he didn't enjoy. His mother looked at him and smiled watching him enthusiastically applause the singers. "They were really good!" Severus said to defend himself.

"They really were." Eileen agreed, loudly applauding the choir too.

"Say… Do want to buy some cocoa?" She asked as they left the crowd to walk back home. "We could make some hot chocolate tomorrow."

 _Okay, something is definitely wrong with her._ Severus thought to himself. "Yes, it would be great, mother." He replied showing surprise and excitement. The last time he ate chocolate was months ago, that very chocolate cake he was stealing when he found Sneaky.

They bought some cocoa and butter cookies before returning home, drinking a hot cup of tea and milk to help themselves feel less cold. Severus could go to his room, where the temperature is always good, but he humored his mother and stayed with her chatting a little before finally going back to his room. When he arrived there, Sneaky gave him the cold shoulder probably for leaving him alone… Until Severus bribed him with a huge piece of salami he sneaked from the kitchen and _Engorgio_ 'd for him. Sneaky came back to his lap for the rest of the day until night when Severus went downstairs to have diner. As Christmas Eve dinner were always more especial, they ate slow-roasted marinated pork shoulder and a delicious Alfredo sauce pasta… The best his mother could do, but good nonetheless. Father wasn't too drunk, but he still went early with mother to their room, leaving Severus alone in the kitchen. Having the opportunity, he cut some of the leftover meat and sneaked it to his room to _Engorgio_ and eat it next day...

The next day came and as Eileen promised, Severus and his her drunk hot chocolate with cookies while listening to a Christmas special of a radio novela. It was too cheesy for Severus tastes, but it made his mother laugh, so he was happy to listen to it. They spend the day mostly in the living room listening to the radio while his father napped or listened to radio with them. Dinner was the leftover of yesterday, but as he already had his fill waiting for him in his room, he faked not being hungry so his parents could eat everything. When he left, he almost went to hug his mother, feeling emotional for the time she had actually spent paying attention to him… But decided against and flew from kitchen as quickly as he could.

* * *

Soooo... Still good? Complains? Thoughts? What do you think about Severus' relationship with his parents? I'll gladly reply on next chapter.

Oh, do you guys prefer chapters around this size, smaller or bigger? My update range is usually 3k ~ 7k... This chapter was actually 7k, but I gave it a trim and decided to ask you guys about it... But should I keep close to 3k? I love big chapters, but there are people who doesn't, so you guys let me know your preferences! :)

Till next week?

Love y'all!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes: hello, dears! I said what? I`d post weekly? Pffft! Watch me...**

This time I want to thank **angel-kun,** I'm sorry that I made you cry. D:

 **PiffyEQ,** I have some ideas, but I think Severus will end surprising me too... In canon he was already powerful, here i want him to really use his power and brightness for a great future. if he ends teaching potions, it will be much later, after having living as a respectful Potions Master.

 **hwyla,** Lord Sneaky _is_ a temperamental cat. I was so sad after writing that sad part last chapter and both Severus and me needed some loving from somewhere... Sneaky sneaked his way in the chapter from nowhere! But I have plans to keep him forever! Even if he ignores Severus from time to time. And thanks for the tip! s2

 **Sierra,** Severus will not get cocky and because the very purpose of my fic is to him to not get ideas inside his big head and mold a Severus down to earth enough to not go following _crazy wizards_ and fall in love for people who doesn't deserve his love (yes, I'm talking about _Lily_ ). He has his flaws, but also great qualities...

 **Some authors do need encouragement to keep writing, and unfortunately I'm one of those, so a soak in your comments to keep me motivated.. :3 Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

 **~o~**

The rest of the school holidays passed too quickly, but apparently January 9th couldn't come fast enough for him… Because Severus would turn eleven! But he wasn't as sad as he was last year… Oh no, his eleventh birthday marked an entire year of magic studying! One year ago he touched his first wand! This is a very happy birthday for him! And apparently turning eleven did have some effects in his magic, because he finally got a hold in doing transfigurations. As soon as he woke this morning he tried to cast the same spell he had being casting every morning for months now, but failed every damn time! But as soon as he cast the spell, concentrating in the big cotton tuft turning into a thick mattress, he felt his magic _bend_ completely to his will and the transfiguration was complete.

He finally could transfigure his limp mattress to a fluffy heaven! He tested his new bed with a satisfied sigh and every single part of his body melted feeling comfy like he had never felt. He would not leave his bed _today. He can't._

Well, he did leave his fluffy heaven sometime later, but much later than his usual... Only because it took time to gather enough willpower to leave his fluffy heaven. _Yes_ , that's how he'll call his bed now. Forever.

"Happy birthday, Severus," his mother said with a soft voice and smile as he entered the kitchen. On the table there was some candy was splattered around a big chocolate cupcake with a single blue candle on top of it.

"Thank you, mother," said Severus honestly, as he went to hug his mother with a content sigh.

"You know, Severus, if I could do something more for you, I would," Eileen said softly to Severus as she let him go from their hug.

Severus felt something twist inside of him. He looked at her sad eyes and he tried to swallow the disgust and sorrow he suddenly felt looking at her.

"Do you really, mother? because I have never seen you doing anything for me!" Severus said with anger dripping from his voice. His happy mood completed turning sour as he felt his heart fill with hatred. "And for you too! You are as sad as I'm but you don't do anything to change it! For yourself! What's your excuse, mother?! Why-"

"You'd never understand, Severus," Eileen interrupted him with a weak voice, her face was pale and her eyes widened. "There's so much more than-"

"I don't care!" Severus yelled. "I don't care for your excuses! You don't try to do nothing for us! You stay in your room sleeping all day and you don't care about me at all!"

Severus felt a huge weight being lifted from his shoulders, he wanted to say this to his mother for a _long_ time.

"You don't understand, you are only a child," Eileen said almost yelling, she tried to approach Severus, but he walked away from her before she got closer. "You have to believe me, Severus. If I could, I would do something for us! But I can't! _I can't_!"

"I don't believe in you," Severus hissed with rage dripping from his voice.

"Severus, please, let's not fight... It's your birthday," pleaded Eileen.

Severus clenched his fists as he kept glaring at his mother, before saying ironically "it's my birthday, isn't it?" But he didn't want to keep fighting, so he took a deep breath and willed his temper and feeling down.

"I'm sorry, Severus," Eileen said softly, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Okay, mother... Whatever you want, I'll not talk about it anymore," Severus said with an emotionless voice, feeling himself void of emotions. "i'm sorry for yelling at you."

"It's okay, it's doesn't matter at all," she said with a small and strained smile.

After taking another deep breath, Severus nodded his head and went to sit on the chair. As he sat, Eileen pick the cupcake and put it in front of him.

"This year I bought a vanilla cupcake filled with so much chocolate as it could," said Eileen with a small chuckle. "I bought also some caramels to you..."

"Thank you, mother." Severus said with a small smile, not as bright as it could or would be, but a smile nonetheless.

"This year is very special for you, Severus."

"Yes, I know," replied Severus. he waited for her to keep talking, or at least to see if she would mention Hogwarts. But nothing came.

"Happy birthday, my boy," Eileen said before kissing Severus forehead and leave the kitchen without looking back.

Severus watched her go and kept looking until he heard the telltale sound of a door closing. He looked at back at his cupcake and caramels with conflicted emotions...

He breathed in deep, holding the tears for them not to fall.

Without thinking, he put everything on top of a plate and carried to his room to _Engorgio_ everything. He ate a slice of his _cake_ , he could call it a cake now, and decided against going back to his bed and mopping in there his sad feelings. Instead, he kept his original plan and went to have a delicious bath with some oils, flowers and herbs he had gathered the previous day. But it wasn't a _girly_ bath or something like that! He was actually performing a cleansing ritual bath that would help strengthening his magical core in a key day to his magic like his birthday. Because now he knows what a magical core is. Talk about some small victories in life... Anyway, not a flowery bath by choice! But if you'd ask Severus now, after soaking three hours in the bathtub, he would say that flowery baths are actually quite good all things considered. He was feeling fresh, stimulated and calm. After the bath, he went to his room to meditate for a little.

Meditation was a new thing for him, learning about it only three weeks ago. But doing it made him feel like an adult! Seriously, after meditation he always felt like he could solve all the problems of the world while _dancing_. Unfortunately, awesome sessions like these were only for the first stages of the deep meditation he needed to do. In the heavy sessions, he was trying to get so deep inside his own mind that he would lost all the connection with the outside world. He would only see himself and letting _himself_ become _his_ entire universe, only then he could achieve his goal of organizing his own mind.

The technique is called Mind Place, in which a person create a place inside their head, organizing and storing memories, knowledge and even emotions! But Severus is only interested in this because the book said he could always keep learning and never forget because everything is properly stored in your mind! How cool is that? Exactly, that's why he is learning… And he doesn't have a lot to do anyway.

Using his spare time to create a mind place, left him with little to no time to keep reading a lot of books as he was used to. But obviously he still did his best in managing time and keep studying spells, magic theory, charms and transfiguration… It was hard, but it kept him from being lazy. And after more than one year of this busy routine, he was already used to it.

In the summer of 1971, two months before Hogwarts starting, Severus often tried to not think about the school. Inside he's almost bursting from excitement… But his logical thinking smashed his hopes. Does he parents will really send him to Hogwarts?

So what's the best way to prevent him from crying his eyes out every night? Meditation! The gods send technique that took months and more months of work to master. But when Severus finally mastered, he created his mind place: an enormous medieval palace.

Don't let _palace_ fool you, because unfortunately, it's just a square structure made of stones. He'll probably invest more time on it some day...

The palace is divided in two wings: pure knowledge and memories. When he passed through its entrance, he sees a room with only two stairs on it. Both stairs goes to opposite corridors. Quite similar from one another, the only difference is the number of doors and the name of which room. When he is inside the left wing, where his memories are stored, each room is identified with his age. Entering any room, he'll find thirteen small bookcases that vary the number of books. Each book holds a memory that happened in the of year of the room and in the month which the bookcase represents, their covers vary by two color: blue are good memories, black are bad. But as he was moving the memories to be contained in the books, he couldn't remember a lot of things like the month of a certain old memory., so he created a thirteenth bookcase for these random memories.

He had more books inside the thirteenth bookcase than he likes to admit… Whatever.

The right wing of the palace is stored his pure knowledge, where the rooms are divided by subjects like _Spells, Charms, Herbs and Flowers, Rituals_ … Inside the rooms are only a bookcase and a comfy armchair, but instead of triggering a memory remembrance when he opened a book, each book here is the actual book in real life. Some of the books are complete, the smallest ones, but a lot of them has only few pages containing only what he wants to remember forever.

As you can imagine, the storing and organizing took a lot of time and effort. When the process was finished, it left Severus so exhausted that for rest of June he wouldn't touch a single book, only playing with Sneaky on the park, or just lazing around.

The day is June 30th and Severus woke up feeling more energetic than he felt for the past two weeks. He left Sneaky home and went to the park to have a good session with his magic in the park, hoping to feel even more energized. And as he hoped, he went back home feeling awesome and ready for lunch after connecting with his magic while sunbathing.

What he didn't predict was a gray owl landing on his shoulder, carrying a paper in its beak when he was almost entering his home. To say Severus was confused and shocked was an understatement… And when the owl made an odd gesturing, like it was offering the paper to him, Severus kept looking at owl not knowing what to do!

Well, until the owl beaked his eye with the paper before flying away from him.

With a hand on his right eye trying to ease the pain, Severus picked the paper from the ground where it fell and to his surprise, he discovered it was actually an letter to him! What the fudge is happening? He looked around him trying to see if this was some kind of joke, but there isn't anyone looking at him… Puzzled, but still suspicious, he opened the letter and almost fell on his butt!

His Hogwarts letter! His letter! It arrived! Dear God! His letter! Severus opened the front door and rushed to his room to read the letter. _His letter!_

Laying on his fluffy bed, Severus let the minutes tick by while he reads the letter's contents for the third time but still couldn't stop being awestruck… They are offering him to study in Hogwarts!

But is he really going? Because yes, he got the letter... But will his parents have money to send him and buy all this stuff for him? He feels uncertain while he reads the second page of his letter what he has to have:

 **Uniform**

First-year students will require:

 _1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

 _2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

 _3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

 _4\. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

 **Set Books**

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

 _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_

 _Modern European Wizardry History by Våt Kex_

 _Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_

 _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_

 _Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_

 _Practical Guide of The Defense Against the Dark Forces by Köstliches Brot_

 **Other Equipment**

 _1 wand_

 _1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

 _1 set glass or crystal phials_

 _1 telescope_

 _1 set brass scales_

He has to have plan on how would he buy all- His mother's things! How could have him forgotten about it!? He could feign not knowing about them and ask if she still had some of her old things! And her books too! Reading the list, he confirms that he'll only need to buy two new books: the history book and defense against the dark forces. As for the equipment he bets that his mother has everything on the list in that old trunk, because he have already seen the brass scales and the cauldron there. So what he really needs to be concerned is his wardrobe. How would he buy it?

If he asks his mother, she would probably take him to a shop of horrible second hand clothes… Could he avoid this? They could they buy only the basic so he could get to buy better ones... Well, he'll not steal from the wizarding world. That's a fact. And to be honest, there's probably a ton of wards and spells protecting their products to be stolen by anyone dumb and poor enough to try. So no, he has to find another way.

"The _Gemino_ charm! Of course!" Severus realizes with a start. He looks smugly at his self supplying jar of candy for giving him the ideas… Well, the jar didn't give the idea, he just sort of remembered while he loo- Never mind!

Anyway, the _Gemino_ is both a charm and a curse. If you cast it incorrectly, or purposely incorrectly, you get the curse: every time you touch the object it duplicates. There are obviously good things that come from this: self-filling and never ending food, but if you are in a closed room with the object duplicating itself constantly it can easily kill you… But if you cast correctly, it will result in only one perfect copy of your original object. You can cast it in both food and objects, and it makes the duplicate so perfect that no one could guess which is the original or the copy. As Severus has read on the book about the charm, when someone wants to protect an object against the charm, there's a counter-charm that doesn't let people duplicate the object. Books and heirlooms being the best examples of protected objects… As for food, when casting _Gemino_ , for a unknown reason, the duplicated food rot much more fast. But aside from these two situations, there's no problem in duplicating objects… Therefore, if he could get his mother to buy one new work robe, he could duplicate it a _dozen of times_!

Severus plan gets even better if he only use the duplicated robes, as the original would never lose its new look, when doing new duplicates they would always appear as new robes! And if he grows? Then he would carefully _Engorgio_ the original to have bigger and new robes!

 _I am a genius. Someone, please, give me a trophy. I definitely deserve it! There's not much people being this creative about money situations as I'm…_ Severus thought with mirth shining in his eyes.

Mental crisis averted and brilliant plans made, he needs to do just one sad thing before showing his letter to his mother: returning her wand. It's sad, but he needs to do it… But he can't do it today because he needs to prepare his things in case he can't have access to it anymore. So he'll have to store food for Sneaky to last for the next two months. Get at least two more jars like his self-filling candy jar for probably sandwiches and apples. Steal a new leather bag for his Hogwarts' books along with new shoes, and finally duplicate his clothes to bring them to Hogwarts and not have to steal again.

His preparations lasted a total of five days, then in the sixth he went quietly to the basement with all the books floating behind him, and with a heavy heart put the wand back to the black box he found it and the books in the other trunk.

Exactly a week later of receiving his letter, he rushed inside the house like the first time, but instead of going to his own room he went to his parents'. After his birthday disaster, things were awkward with his mother for some time. But a few months, everything went back to normal: ignoring their problems. They have done that for all of their lives, so it was not hard to keep doing it.

"Mother! Mother," Severus shouted so out of his normal behavior that he almost winced. He knocked in his mother's door until she opened it looking wide eyed. "My Hogwarts letter, mother! I'm going to Hogwarts!"

And for the time since his birthday, she hugged him strongly against her chest. "Oh, Severus… Finally your time has come! You'll be an amazing wizard!"

Severus almost cried with such great emotions running through his heart that he did not expect to feel at all…

"Yes, mother. I'll be finally a wizard and practice!" Well, not true, he's already one, but his mother can't know... Or does she know? He still haven't solved this and probably never will if he doesn't ask directly to her. As he'll never risk asking, the secret will probably come to grave with him.

"Yes, you'll be a great wizard! My son," said Eileen with such emotion on her voice as she let him go, she looked at Severus for a moment like seeing him with a new light.

"We'll have to buy a lot of things… Will we have money, mother?" Severus asked with some insecurity in his voice. But before he could say something else, his mother was quick to assure him.

"Let's check out your letter and see what you'll need. I still have some things from when I was student so maybe you could use them… And we can to the Diagon Alley next week to buy the rest of your things and pen the answer to your Hogwarts acceptance!"

 _Yes!_ Severus wanted to shout, but just nodded eagerly with a beaming smile at her. "Thank you, mother."

 **~o~**

In that same afternoon, Severus and Eileen descended the stairs of the basement, but before Severus could get to the last step, his mother stopped him and then turned to look at him.

"I know that you hated being prohibited of coming down here. But believe me or not, it was mostly to protect both of my old things and you, in case you got at the wrong end of something inside of one of my trunks and being too young to protect yourself." Eileen said with her voice sounding like she was apologizing to him. She waited for Severus reaction, but when she got none, she started talking again. "But above everything I had to prevent your father of finding the trunks. That's why I cast a charm to repeal muggles and on top of that a charm called _Notice-Me-Not._ _I_ t is a very interesting charm that you'll learn in your seventh year in Hogwarts..."

 _Seventh year? Are you serious? That charm is a seventh year material?_ Severus thought, incredulous at what his mother was saying... He had mastered the charm in less than a day! And he's eleven!

"As you can predict, the charm is used when you don't want people finding something. It makes anyone who wasn't the caster completely ignore the object," Eileen again spoke like she was sorry for that she had done. Severus wanted to roll his eyes at her. "Only an observant wizards can realize that he's being tricked and they have to be really powerful to fight against the charm and see the hidden object..."

 _Well, I always knew that I was powerful..._ Severus boasted to himself. If they were in another situation, he would be probably be puffing his chest and looking smugly at his mother. But he can hide his emotions well enough and still manage to fake being awestruck.

"This is so interesting! And it only makes me more excited to study magic! It must be amazing," said Severus enthusiastically. Well, he had felt like this before, so he knew exactly how he would have sounded like… He just has to act like his past year and half of study didn't exist.

"I know how are you feeling, Severus." Eileen said with a smile. "But let's not dwell in here, I have to make dinner before your father come home... So, I was telling you this because I'll get my wand from the trunk and stop the charm so we can see the trunk together for the things we'll need."

Severus nodded quietly, and subtly started to study his mother to figure the reason her voice had faltered when she spoke about her wand. Well, she hasn't touched it in a long time, so maybe she was just nervous to get it again?

As Eileen went to grab her wand, Severus glued his eyes to her face and not the trunk, because it would not be easy to explain how he can to get past the spell. He doubts that Eileen would buy the "powerful wizard" crap if he tried. But she had suddenly stopped moving the moment her hands touched the wand, and Severus couldn't resist and looked at her hand holding the wand directly above the open trunk.

After a few minutes she was still frozen on the spot and Severus' starting to get nervous with her reaction... What was she feeling? Can the owner of the wand know if another person used it? If his mother doesn't move in the next seconds he'll-

"I'm sorry, Severus... I was a little caught in the moment. It has been a long time since I held my wand... Your father... It's being so hard- Don't mind what I'm saying. Forget it and let us move on!" Eileen talked like she was a little drunk, not even looking at Severus while she mumbled.

When she finally cast the charm off, Severus made a surprise sound just for show, because he was almost sure that Eileen wasn't even paying attention to him at all. Her eyes were glassed and her hands haven't stopped hovering over her things like a maniac while holding her wand.

Well, that's it. Severus was starting to be freaked out by his mother behavior. "Mother," called Severus trying to break this trance like behavior. No such luck. Only when he shouted at her that she finally stopped what she was doing and looked at him with a bewildered expression.

"Merlin! Severus, I'm sorry... I don't know what..." Eileen started saying before suddenly stopping and breathing in deeply.

 _Probably to try to calm herself_ , thought Severus.

"I haven't used my magic for a really long time..." She explained after some minutes of a hard bearing silence. But contrary of what Severus predicted she would do, she put the wand inside the black box again.

Severus felt like could slap her for her stubbornness. How could she still put her wand away after years of not touching it? Needing a deep breath himself, he let the anger go.

"I have my letter with me, so I can say what I need and you pick from your trunk. We don't to look at your things, just pick what I need now." Severus said in a comforting voice, or what he thought it could a comforting voice as he never needed one. "Is that okay? Mother?"

"Yes," Eileen replied, agreeing with Severus. "We can have a look later... Let's just pick what we need for now, tell me the equipment, please."

"So... I'll need one cauldron pewter size 2, one set of glass or crystal phials, one telescope and the set of brass scales." Severus listed patiently each equipment, waiting for his mother to recover each one from inside of the enlarged trunk at time.

"It's just this, isn't it?" Eileen asked looking at Severus.

"Yes, it is," answered Severus with a nod his head. "Do you want me to tell the list of books now?"

"That would be good, thank you." Eileen said with a small smile while she went to open the trunk containing the books. She took out all her first year books and compared with Severus' list. "We'll need to buy two books of your list, Severus. I had different books in my year..."

"Are books expensive in the wizarding world?" Severus asked sounding a little sad. But this time he was not faking at all, he still wishes to buy new robes.

"Some are, but not the mandatory school books. Very few are expensive, but most are cheap." She assured Severus, but hold a sad smile, understanding why he was upset that they would have to buy the books. "About the uniform list, do they still require only a plain pointed hat, the dragon hide gloves and the winter cloak?"

"Yes, they are on the list." Severus confirmed looking at his mother with a puzzled look... Could she mean what Severus was thinking about? He didn't want to hope, but if she was offering her old clothes the chance to get a new robe would be much greater!

"Do want to see if they fit you? They are actually all unisex, so if they fit you, you could use them..." Eileen suggested with a little of hesitation in her voice.

 _Does she thinks that I would refuse? Are you crazy, woman?_ Severus thought affronted. "That would be great, mother! If they fit I would use them!" He said enthusiastically to her, making her chuckle a little before going for the third trunk.

"I only have some of my clothes from my time as a student, but I still have the winter cloak that I wore on my third year... But I was still quite small back then, so it could still fit you even if a little big..." Eileen rambled as she rummaged through her clothes.

Minutes later Severus tested the three items and all of them fit him. The winter cloak was a little big for his stature as his mother had predicted, but he could shorten it a little or even let his natural growth fix the problem. But even with this, he would definitely apply the _Gemino_ charm on all three of them.

Finding this the perfect moment to bring the subject to his mother, he helped his mother put the clothes back to the trunk and when they had finished, he used the moment to ask her.

"Mother, as I'm saving a lot of things and don't have to buy almost nothing... Could we buy a new robe? I think we could afford to buy this only this one thing..." Severus said with a small voice, but heavy with hope. He need to fight for this small thing with his parents! He doesn't want to go to Hogwarts and be known as the same poor-dirty-Severus he spent years being in the muggle school! He wants to go and have a fresh start and have people respecting him! Not judging him because he's poor!

"I don't know how to tell you, Severus... But three set of tailored robe is too expensive for us, we can't buy it." Eileen said with her voice sounding sorry again.

"No! We don't need to buy all three of them! Only one set of robes would be enough for me mother! I can take care real good of it and make it last all the year!" Severus argued with his mother. He needed to convince her! "We still have almost two months before my classes at starts in September! If we save money we can buy one! Please, mother. It's important to me to have at least this new robe!"

"Severus, I don't know..."

"Mother, I haven't asked anything for years! I could be making your lives hell if like any other brat from school.. But I'm not, so please, think about this?" Severus pleaded with her not caring his was fighting dirty.

Eileen took a deep breath before nodding her head. "We'll save the money and I'll talk about this with your father. He doesn't know that I still have this three trunks with my old things, so he'll probably expect that you'll need expend some money anyway, so we can use everything yo buy the set." Eileen said with a more confident voice. "I know they don't check with all students have the three sets, so you will be good."

"Yes, we are." Severus agreed laughing with her, and just to make a point of how happy he was, he went to hug his mother, showing that he's indeed thankful.

 **~o~**

As the plans have changed a little, his mother went alone to Diagon Alley to pen the letter to Hogwarts, but they would still go when they have enough money to buy what he needed.

But as the day was still far, he enjoyed his time with the books officially being his, and making a point of reading them in front of his mother. Who sometimes suggested that he could actually let something to learn along the year and not everything at once! When Severus laughed at her comment, he knew his mother would never guess the real reason... He had already _read and practiced_ both _The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1_ and _Grade 2_... As well as _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ that is used for the first three years of Hogwarts! And let's not get started with the number of books he has read about a lot of advanced magic... Because now he knows and why some are considered advanced and other beginners, the difference between the difficulty of the spells and how a simple charm can turn into advanced.

When he started studying, he had committed the small error of starting with a random book which consisted pretty much of advanced spells and charms... Reading the _Book of Spells: Grade 1_ after The Book for _Newlyweds without House-Elves_ was a walk on the beach for him... The different level of magic he need to pull and level of concentration was abysmal between them!

But sadly, Severus couldn't practice magic again fearing his mother having lapses and wanting to use magic again. The reason why she stopped in the first place was never brought in their conversations and for now he would not try to bring it up too...

It is already August 17th and they haven't gone to the Diagon Alley to buy the rest of his supplies. Mother says there is still more money to be saved before they could make their travel, and they could still wait until the 30th before going to buy his wand, robe, parchments, quills and ink. He would use one of his mother's trunk, but she's still in the process of transferring her clothes to the other two trunks and to an old and broken wardrobe.

Still avoiding his father like a plague, he only heard the arguments about saving money, never interfering in none of them. Because he was already doing his part in saving, he basically was only eating the food from his self-filling jars, filling his tummy to brim with the cheese and pepperoni sandwich or eating too many apples at once... He started to get a little sick of only eating this two things, but he managed it somehow...

August 25th arrived and he received the perfect news that Eileen finally had enough money! Severus and his mother would finally make the trip Diagon Alley! And what a trip! Severus was so excited! But nothing compared to the moment that the brick wall separated by itself and the magical world opened to him! It's was fudging magical! There's just nothing ordinary in that place!

"I want to see every single shop…" Severus murmured to himself still in awe, not realizing he was talking out aloud.

Eileen giggled quietly when she heard him and saw his face. "You'll have the rest of your life to do it, Severus… Don't worry!"

Severus on the other new he would not wait until next year to visit the alley, he knows how to get in here now and he'll get to come tomorrow if he can. _Just wait, mother..._

"Of course, mother. Let's just buy what I need for now… I'll come to visit other time." Severus agreed for the sole purpose of distracting her. "Can we buy my wand first?"

Eileen looked thoughtful for a moment, even humming to herself before looking to Severus. "Buying the wand can be a quite exhaustive process… I think it could better to buy your robe at Madam Malkin's, then we buy your books, your writing materials and then we could go to buy your wand! How's this plan for you?"

Severus shrugged. "What you think it's better, mother…"

"Okay then, let's get started with our shopping." Eileen said like she was as excited to go shopping with him… What Severus supposes is true, he doubts that she has been anywhere near Diagon Alley for the last decade.

They followed the plan and in less than two hours with only few distractions they were already heading to Ollivanders to buy his wand. He had brought with him his charmed leather bag, the one he had recently stolen. He was hesitant to show it to his mother and ask her to put an expansion charm on it because of his lame excuse of how he had acquired the bag. But he showed it to his mother and surprisingly she accepted his excuse and put an expansion charm for him without blinking twice... And now, inside his bag was his precious new robe! Being tailored for it was a fun experience, but trying to explain why they would only buy one robe instead of three was embarrassing. So he happily stored the memory away with the intention of never seeing it again.

"Hello newcomers," a soft voice said as soon as he and his mother entered the wand shop, but there wasn't anyone inside the shop! Or so they thought until Mr. Ollivander appeared beside them. "Oh, hello Eileen Prince… Blackthorn, 9 inches with dragon heartstrings, a fine wand of mine. And I must assume this is your child?"

"Hello, Mr. Ollivander. I'm Eileen Snape now and this is indeed my son, Severus Snape." Eileen greeted with a gentle voice despite calling her with her old surname, she put her hand on Severus' shoulder and encouraged him to talk with the older wizard.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Severus politely greeted the wand maker and offered awkwardly his hand to shake, and was surprised with the firm shake he received.

"Nice to meet you too, young man." Ollivander replied with a small smile. "And I'm sorry for my mistake, Ms. Snape… So let's find a wand for this young wizard?"

"Yes!" Severus answered not caring to hold his big smile st all.

"Left or right handed?"

"Right hand, sir."

"If you would please hold out your arm, yes, like this." Mr. Ollivander asked and just like that a charmed measure tape assaulted Severus and starting poking and measuring every inch of his body… Does he really need the size of his head?! "You know, Mr. Snape, when I know the parent's wand of a young wizard, my first choices of wands for the young to try has similar affinity of the parents'. Sometimes I'm right with very first wands, but sometimes I'm completely wrong, because magic is independent and unpredictable…"

Severus listened with vapid attention for any information, because he did spend one and half year using his mother's wand, that now he knew is made of Blackthorn wood and dragon heartstrings. The wand had suited him pretty well, so maybe if Mr. Ollivander tries similar wands, there'd be one for him...

The old wizard returned with three boxes and mischievous look in his eyes. "That will do," he said, and the tape that was currently measuring his nostrils crumpled into a heap on the floor.

"Well, Mr. Snape try this beautiful wand," Ollivander said and offered a wand made with light color of wood. "14 inches made of Aspen and a Phoenix feather core."

He grabbed the wand and give it a flick, causing a rush of power to pass through body. When he felt it starting to surface, wild and raw ready for destruction, he blocked it and pushed the power right back from where it came on reflex. But as he realized what he had done, he immediately dropped the wand fearing destroying it with the backlash.

Severus looked at the wand maker and was surprised to see a suspicious glare directed at him... But it only lasted for a second before it disappeared from the old wizard's face.

"I'm sorry for dropping the wand, Mr. Ollivander!" Severus apologized quickly. Why had he dropped the wand? If he broke it he'll not have money to buy his own wand! "Please, I'm-"

"Calm down, child," Ollivander interrupted him and used his own wand to summon the fallen one and put it back inside its box. "The Phoenix feather simply rejected you, Mr. Snape… But I must ask why did you drop the wand?"

"I felt my magic reacting bad to it and I felt like I was going to destroy it… So I preferred to drop it instead." Severus explained honestly, but omitted the part where he was the one pushing back the magic, not an involuntary reaction.

"Interesting," Ollivander said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Severus looked at his mother, but she appeared not being too affected and gave him a small smile when saw him looking at her, but she quickly diverted to look at Ollivanders once again. He looked back to Ollivander as the wizard offered another wand, but this time the wood was wood almost similar to his mother's.

"14 inches, yew and kelpie hair."

Severus touched the wand frowned when nothing happened. He felt like he was touching a simple rod of wood! His magic didn't even flare when he flicked the wand, so he just gave the wand back.

"I wonder if something really similar is a better option to you..." Ollivander said with a smirk, and picked the last wand he had bought with him to Severus try. This time it was again a light wood.

"13 and half inches, pine and dragon heartstrings." Ollivander presented the wand with confidence. "A straight-grained pine wand like this one, always chooses a wizard who is independent and dedicated. It enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, has easy adaptation to new methods and spells… Try this one, Mr. Snape."

Severus, completely interested with the wand description, was feeling nervous about this wand. Would it chooses him? It'll mean he's an independent and dedicated person? Well, he has to touch the wand to-

Severus felt his heart melt while a gentle rush of power urged his body alive.

He had found his wand.

* * *

I got the idea self-filling jars from the time Minerva charmed a plate of sandwiches to be self-filling for Harry and Ron... I researched a little and it's totally possible to use the same curse in everything... And the charm as well. :)

About the wand. I searched for it a great deal of hours... Eileen's wand was always recommended for Severus by other people... But then I thought that could be good for her and the first wand for Severus. But _his_ wand should be more prone to new knowledge, research, inventions and not made completely to dark arts... So Pine and dragon heartstrings for him. :)

Oh, and let me say something that happened when I started writing this chapter... For some fudging reason that I still don't know how happened, in one minute I was typing, then my finger slipped and pressed in somewhere in the keyboard that made the page crash. When I got back to the document, everything was **lost.** 4k words that I had written vanished :'( and I had to rewrite everything, but it never gets the same feelings as the first time... i was really sad. ç-ç

But anyway, what did you think of this chapter? See you next week? Love y'all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes: All my thanks to NatNicole, a anon guest and** **PiffyEQ for leaving comments!**

 **PiffyEQ,** Severus being sorted into RavenClaw? I don't know... Yes, he's thirsty for knowledge. But he has definitely Slytherin's traits! About Eileen, there's something I wanted to explore about her reasons for not caring enough for Severus, but to be honest I'm not sure if this Eileen deserve much redemption... I'll keep writing ad see how it goes...

 **NatNicole,** your question will be totally replied o this chapter... I don't know if it is best than leaving th original meetings be. But my muse got this idea and i'm following... Hope you like it. :)

 **anon guest** , Severus can explore his advanced knowledge in Slytherin as well as in Ravenclaw... But let's see, there's still chapter 5 for me to decide and write the sorting...

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4**

 **~o~**

"13 and half inches, pine and dragon heartstrings." Ollivander presented the wand with confidence. "A straight-grained pine wand like this one, always chooses a wizard who is independent and dedicated. It enjoy being used creatively, and unlike some others, has easy adaptation to new methods and spells… Try this one, Mr. Snape."

Severus, completely interested with the wand description, was feeling nervous about this wand. Would it chooses him? It'll mean he's an independent and dedicated person? Well, he has to touch the wand to-

Severus felt his heart melt while a gentle rush of power urged his body alive.

He had found his wand.

"Dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable to learn more quickly than other types. This quality of the core and the pine wood opens almost all the branches of magic for you to study… Do you like to study? You don't even have to say! This wand talks for itself. You'll be able to do greater things, young man." Ollivander talked quietly while Severus let himself fall in love with his wand.

"I take that you have found your wand, Severus?" Eileen asked after Severus gone silent for a long time.

"It's definitely my wand." Severus replied with a smile so big that his mother could probably see and count all of his porcelain white teeth.

"Oh, I must tell you one tidbit about your new wand… In all my life as a wand maker, I had never personally known the master of a pine wand to die young! All of them living long and exciting lives!" Ollivander announced happily. "Now our business are concluded. It will be six galleons, thank you very much."

Severus smiled at the wizard as his mother counted the coins in her pouch, it was probably all the money left in there anyway...

"Mr. Snape, do I have to tell you that you can't use practice magic when you are underage? And as you are going to Hogwarts, you can't use your wand outside the school?" Ollivander quietly asked looking only for a brief time at Severus before looking back at Eileen.

Severus smile disappeared as well all the blood from his body leaving as white as a paper. "Why is that, sir?" He asked with a small voice.

"Because in UK you can't use magic at all when you are younger than 17. All wands have a trace that let the ministry know when you use magic outside of school… You can be expelled of Hogwarts if you are caught. And if the ministry detect an underage doing magic for the third time, their wands are snapped and given a ten year period with no chance of getting another one." The old wizard said with a serious voice.

Severus wanted to ask a question about the trace, but his mother finished counting and gave the pouch to Ollivander, who in turn said a brief farewell. "Goodbye, Mr. and Ms. Snape."

"Goodbye, Mr. Ollivander. Thank you for your time!" Eileen said before ushering Severus to leave the shop.

 **~o~**

It's not possible… What Ollivander said must be wrong.

Unfortunately, he had talked about it with his mother and she said almost the same thing. All the wands that people buy from Ollivanders are registred with a trace, when acquired by an adult he cancels the trace. But when a underage buy a wand, your name is connected to the trace and sent to the ministry. And if you are muggleborn, you not only have your wand with the trace but the ministry applies a ward in your house, that prevents anyone from doing magic without being caught.

Severus was feeling conflicted. Listening to his mother, he gathered that you can't do magic because the wand you bought has the trace and can pinpoint the law breaker. Ollivander in the other hand implied that the wand doesn't matter, that even if he tried to use his mother's he would be detected… But when he compares both information they don't match.

Sneaky mewls happily as Severus enters his room and begs - commands - him to play with the plush mouse. Severus knows better than not obey, so he plays a little with Sneaky, but doesn't last long, being already tired from his trip and his restless thoughts he just couldn't keep himself standing and playing. He decides to lay on his bed to rest and cuddle with Sneaky who reluctantly gets on board of the plan.

What is he missing? By what Ollivander said he sould have being spotted as _law breaker_ ages ago...

Half an hour has passed when he finally understands what is wrong when he compares the information from his mother and Ollivander: children from magical homes are overlooked. If you are from a magical family, the ministry and everyone assume that you'll **not** have access to the adult's wands. What would be true in almost all the cases, he guesses… Only failing if the adult wizard or witch doesn't care that the child use their wands. The Ministry has probably thought about it, but again, their mistake is trusting in the judgement of the adult or in the adult knowing that the child is using their wands. They hadn't thought that could be possible for an adult witch or wizard to not use their wand for such a long period of time that they could forget about it… Leaving the wand vulnerable and forgotten to the child find and use it without their parent knowing.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that's why Severus will keep practicing magic with his mother's wand and not a single soul will know or care. _You can kiss my ass, Mr. Ollivander._ Severus thought smugly.

 **~o~**

Dawn of August 30th found Severus descending the stairs of the basement. His parents had a huge discussion after dinner that ended badly in their bedroom, and for experience, he knew that his mother would spend most of the day in her room while his father moped in the living room before going to work and after returning completely drunk would stay on until before dinner only then returning to their bedroom. Consequently, Severus knew he would have the day mostly to himself, so he would enjoy it in a awesome trip to Diagon Alley! But first things first, he got his mother's wand to work his way through the clothes he was going to bring to Hogwarts.

Back to his room, he tried to stay calm so he could be completely concentrated and not mess anything. Starting with his wizard clothes, he successfully duplicates his uniform set in four perfect copies.

As he started to fold the sets, he tried to ignore his desire to wear his uniform and robe again and take just a little of time to admire himself on a mirror. It was hard…

 _Urgh, I can't resist!_ _I have zero self control_. Severus thought, frustrated with himself as he dressed quickly and went to see his reflection in the bathroom's mirror.

Severus looked at his magic improved self with his new clothes and he had to say that he looked like a fudging **powerful wizard**. A powerful and handsome one, if you care to add.

His looks changed so slowly during the months of using spells and charms to clean himself. Who would have thought that using them would give his lanky hair life and turn it into a smooth pitch black hair with some wide curls? Or his baths soothing his dehydrated skin until it became healthy and soft pale white… And let's not talk about his porcelain teeth. Well, he could go without his wide doe eyes, pout pink lips and chubby cheekbones, though. It doesn't look exactly emasculating… But it doesn't matter, he looks handsome and with his wizard clothes, he looks like just another pureblood rich boy like he saw on Diagon Alley. No one would tell that he's a poor to boot half-blood and make fun of him!

He couldn't control his excited giggle as he makes his robe fly around himself. This happy feeling shouldn't be this addicting, but it is and he's hooked on feeling great and happy. He bit his bottom lip trying to stop smiling, he does need to pack this clothes, though. And stop wasting the time he has!

With a last look on the mirror, he's handsome alright, he changes clothes to a white button-down shirt and a black trousers that he'll wear to go to Diagon Alley. He goes back to his room to pack the robes and the rest of his things. Actually, he needs to keep duplicating some, so he goes back on the old wizard clothes, and started working again: duplicating the gloves, duplicating and then resize the duplicated winter cloak. He folds and pack them in the trunk, where catch a glimpse of his second hand writing equipment and just for precaution, and because he can, he duplicates all of them.

Hogwarts supplies packed, he needs to decide which one of his muggles clothes he'll take to the school. He can sleep in his shirts, and for the winter there's his sweaters. Best option he has for everyday use outside of classes is definitely his button-down shirts. They are quite comfortable, so he sees no problem in looking a little too formal by wearing them everyday. Only having one white shirt, he'll need to cast a charm he had never used before: _Mutatione Colorum_. Briefly reviewing the charm, he separates the until then white shirts by the color he wanted then to be. Having duplicated to almost a dozen of shirts, he is going to be a little tired for sure at the end, but he knew he could do all the spells required until the last one.

Finding all those tasks, he finally packs the most precious item of all, his self-filling candy jar! The havens present to his life that has four types of candy: a peppermint, a caramel, a strawberry soft licorice and a cherry truffle. All the originals were obviously stolen, but he got the idea of creating this jar so he didn't have to risk keep stealing things… And until he gets sick of the same candy, it will last a very long time.

Severus looked around the room to see if he had forgot something, he didn't, but he kept looking at the bare room. He lived here his whole life, eleven years of loneliness and sadness. Looking at it now gives him some unrecognized feelings, because it doesn't look like someone have ever lived in here for ages. Bare walls and old things leaving the place a little creepy to be at. The only thing keeping him from feeling down is that tomorrow is september 1st! For the next seven years his new home will be Hogwarts! Far away from creepy old rooms!

"I'm going to Hogwarts tomorrow!" Severus announced to no one but himself.

Sneaky mewls leisurely at his spot on the window, looking at Severus.

"Yes, how could I have forgotten? _We_ _are_ going to Hogwarts tomorrow!" Severus said correcting his mistake with a smile to his pet.

Best thing so far: Lord Sneaky will come! He was so worried before his Hogwarts letter came, thinking he would have to let Sneaky go back to the streets again, but as he had read he could bring him too!

Severus approached his fluffy friend and petted him a goodbye, before he left the house quietly at almost 8 o'clock am. Having cast a _Notice-Me-Not_ charm on himself, it was super easy getting inside his ride without a ticket! Really, the possibilities of gaining advantage in the muggle world was only getting bigger! He was giddy and nervous all the way to the Leaky Caldron, but as he stopped in front of the red brick wall he had to make himself calm down. Like seriously calm down. He needed to access his mind palace and review the memory to see which bricks his mother had touched with her wand.

Starting by breathing deep and long, he searched for the memory to review it. He did it in less than a minute! He was getting pretty good in having conscious and fast access to the inside of the palace, but he knew that soon he wouldn't have to even _think_ to step inside his mind palace. He proudly touched the bricks with his wand: from the trash can, three up and two across… And Severus was inside the Diagon Alley.

He would do what he promised his mother: visit every single shop. The boring ones, the interesting, the disgusting… Everything was bright, loud, sparkling clean, too dirty… He was having the time of his life!

Unfortunately, the notice-me-not charm was dropped when he entered a shop which had protection against it. It was actually the owner who cast the _Finite Incantatem_ once she had detected his presence and was petrified by the wards, but as soon as she took a look at him seeing him so young and a clean appearance hesitated. Severus seeing her hesitance, he started to lie through his teeth saying his mother had casted the charm to protect him from strangers… He was **not a thief**. Seeming satisfied, the owner released him and as soon as she did it, Severus did not wait for nothing and immediately he fled from the shop.

Severus was starving and his feet was aching, but he didn't care at all. Right now, at an unknown hour but definitely past lunch time, he was looking at the display window of a shop called Quality Quidditch Supplies with no idea of what was quidditch and why there's a broom in the display! After a few minutes of looking at the floating broom, he had come to the conclusion that it is definitely used to fly. Even muggles knows that! But he still had one question… What is quidditch!? He was thinking if it would be too embarrassing to enter the shop to ask someone when a loud voice gushed beside him.

"Merlin, James! Look at this beauty! Superb! Marvelous! I need one, James! You just don't understand because-"

"Shut up, Sirius."

"But, James! James!" The first boy kept whining while he looked with adoration the broom on display. "We could play with it in the team this year! It would be awesome!"

"Sirius, there's no way of getting into the team in the first year… Don't be delusional, man." The second boy - James - said sounding like he was already impatient with the other boy.

Curiosity was hitting Severus hard. Team? As a team sport? Could such a thing exist? Quidditch?

"Hey there, mate," greeted James when he caught Severus looking at him.

 _In the front of Quality Quidditch Supplies now lies Severus Snape remains. Such a young boy died from mortification. Let's leave the body to rest in peace._

"Is he mute? Or deaf?" Sirius whispered to James while they looked at Severus frozen body.

"Hey mate, are you okay?" James inquired a little worried.

 _No, I'm not. I'm an idiot._

"Hey," Severus replied shily and tried to give a small smile to the boys in front of him. "Hum… I'm okay… Yes, I guess… I was just thinking… That I have forgot to buy something… From my school supplies list. Yeah," stammered Severus.

 _God, I must look stupid_.

"Are you going to Hogwarts too?" asked Sirius, more shouting than asking. But Severus would not scold the boy for his loudness, even if his ears were hurting now.

"Yes, I'm going!" Severus replied with two short nods. "I came here today to buy… What I had forgotten, but I think I don't I need it anyway… So I'm just looking at things before being locked inside Hogwarts for a year..."

"Let's not be dramatic," said James, rolling his eyes at Severus. "We're not going to be _locked_! We have the Yule hols to go back home… Having a break from Hogwarts at home will be awesome!"

" **You** are going back home. **I** 'm not going back to my home at all!" Sirius said with his voice heavy with disdain, before turning to look at Severus. "Are you planning on staying during hols too, mate?" Sirius asked Severus like he knew him for ages.

Well, until now Severus didn't know he could go back home… But if you have the choice to stay in Hogwarts. "Hell yes, I'm staying in Hogwarts." Severus said fiercely.

Sirius laughed with glee and offered his hand to Severus for a shake. Severus didn't hesitate before shaking it.

"I like you! We can be friends?" Sirius proposed, but before Severus could even process the question, Sirius kept throwing more questions at him. "What house do you think are you going? Because we could spend the holidays exploring the castle! Oh, and do you hate your family too? Because by the way that you spoke… Because I hate mine! Sometimes it's like I have hated them since I was born! I swear to Merlins hairy balls!"

This time Severus smirked at Sirius, while the boy and James laughed. He was very different from both boys, much more reserved than them, but he liked their sense of humor.

"I don't hate them, I suppose," said Severus awkwardly. "I guess that I just hate staying with them while they fight… And they fight a lot. So, yeah," he explained feeling uncomfortable.

"That's tough," said James. "I can't imagine how it is for you… My mom and dad never fights at all. They even kiss in front of me every morning! It's sick, mate!"

"Oooh, are you jealous that they don't kiss you too? Does baby James wants the kisses just to himself?" Sirius provoked, before starting to throw kisses at James. When James shoved Sirius away, the brat hugged James and started to try to kiss him while making weird kissing faces.

"Stop, Sirius!" James protested trying to get out of his friends hold.

"Come here baby, let me kiss you!"

"Sirius! I'm serious!" James protested again, but suddenly slapped his own face. "I don't believe I just said that! Urgh! Get away from me!"

Sirius laughed while letting James go.

"Oh, but why James? I'm Sirius too!" He said with a proud voice and a stuffed chest.

"Morgana tits, please smother me and carry me away from this idiot!" James said with both of hands on his face while Sirius kept laughing maniacally.

Severus had to bit his lips hard to not laugh from the scene… They were too funny interacting with each other.

"That reminds me… What's your name?" Sirius asked Severus with a big smile on his face.

"My name is Severus Snape…" Severus replied trying to smile back to Sirius.

"Snape?" James asked frowning a little. "Are you half-blood or muggleborn?"

"Half-blood." Severus replied. "My mother is a witch, her name was Eileen Prince."

"I think I may have heard about your mother's family..." James said thoughtful.

"Yeah, me too," said Sirius. "They are all dark and slytherins! But if you said that you're a half-blood, that means you mother married a muggle or a muggleborn… So your mother must be a good person!" Sirius reasoned aloud, smiling at Severus.

Severus is sure that if he had an ounce of respect for his mother family, or even know them he would feel completely offended right now. But Sirius ramblings held no effect in Severus' emotions. But still… She's a good person for marrying Tobias? Fudge that!

"But it doesn't matter that your are a half-blood at all!" Sirius said after an awkward silent was established for a few minutes. "I'm sorry for talking about your mother family like that," Sirius apologized nervously. "I'm really sorry…"

Severus bit his bottom lip, uncertain of what he would say. He wanted to sneer at the boy and actually finish this awkward conversation once for all… But it's not Sirius fault that he didn't know the person Tobias is, and he knows that not all the muggles are as bad as he father.

"It's okay, I guess… I'm not offended," said Severus trying to sound assuring. He was already becoming a pro in sounding assuring to people. "So, hum… You were… Before, you know… You were talking about the broom when you came. Do you play?" He asked trying to change the subject of their conversation, and purposely omitted quidditch from the question because he was still not sure about quidditch being the name of the sport.

"Yes, both of us!" Sirius said excitedly, probably happy for the change too. "James plays as seeker and I play as a beater… We are the best players that Hogwarts will have. Our names we'll be in the _Quidditch Through the Ages_ as the youngest professional players!"

Even not knowing what the heck is _Quidditch Through the Ages_ , Severus face probably showed what he thought about them being mentioned there, because James laughed right after looking at Severus.

"We are not that good or professionals…" James said with a grim face. "Sirius thinks that because we have been playing Quidditch since we were seven that we are professionals… We aren't. But we are _good_ ," he said proudly. "Do you play, Severus?"

"No," Severus answered and after a pause he confessed the truth. "I only heard about the game today, I actually still don't _much_ about it…"

"Are you serious?" Sirius asked - _shouted_ \- the question at Severus. Here we go with ears hurting again.

"Yes…?"

"James, we have a mission. There's a person right in front of us who doesn't know about Quidditch!"

"We have to fix this!" James said seriously, looking at Severus with determination.

Sirius grabbed Severus right hand while James took a hold of his left hand and both of them dragged him to inside of the Quidditch shop.

"This shop is mine and Sirius sanctuary, there's everything you could think of quidditch inside of here. And we are going to show it, but first let's get the basic down," said James.

"Yes," said Sirius and then started to explain the basics himself. "Quidditch is the most popular wizarding sport played on broomsticks. It has two teams of seven people with three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper, and one Seeker; and it involves four balls: a Quaffle, two Bludgers and a Golden Snitch. Wins the game the team that score more points. One goal is worth ten points and catching the Snitch is worth one-hundred fifty points. The game can end when the Snitch is caught, but you can have other rules too."

Good thing that Severus has now an eidetic memory, because honest to god he'd not remember it for himself. But as James and Sirius starts to explain more the dynamic of the game, Severus starts to finally create a picture inside his head. What wasn't even necessary, because for the next hour both of the boys attacked Severus with statics, pictures, books, trophy copies… Whatever they come across inside the shop, and it's a really packed shop, they would show and explain to Severus.

Severus is amazed and impressioned. Really. Quidditch seems really an interesting sport and the passion that James and Sirius shares about it is unquestionable.

"Do you guys know if a normal person can make a broom?" Severus asked interrupting whatever Sirius was talking with the sudden question. But instead of looking irritated, Sirius stops and looks puzzled to Severus.

"You can buy a broom anywhere, Severus…"

Severus rolled his eyes at Sirius. "I know this, Sirius…" _Well, I can't buy one, but I not tell you that._ "But say, can a wizard make a normal broom fly like the brooms used on quidditch?"

"I really have never thought about it…" Sirius replied looking at Severus with surprised eyes.

"If I have to guess, I think you can transform a normal into a flying broom," James said, but still sounded like he was uncertain. "But what I know is that all the broom makers that I have heard of are Charms Masters…"

 _Well, with that goes all my hopes of making a broom…_ Severus thought sadly.

"If someday I get a broom for me I'll study it to see how it works so I can try to make one" whispered Severus, sharing his thoughts with the other two.

"All first years have flying classes, Severus… And they give you a broom for classes," said Sirius. "You can study one of them…"

Severus eyes fills with glee. Oh, he'll study one of the brooms… As he'll duplicate one for himself just as easily!

 _The plan is made._ He thought with a small smirk on his lips.

"You have never flew before, right?" James asked Severus.

"I have never," Severus confessed honestly.

"Well, are you free today? You could come to my house and I'd would teach you how to fly! How's that? I live in London, so we could go to there and me and Sirius could have a seeker match and you could watch!" James proposed Severus excitedly.

 _WHAT?_

* * *

 _What about that?_

I was really uncertain for their first meeting... Than I thought that Severus could meet people in his Diagon Alley outing than I thought _Why the heck not Sirius and James?_ But then I actually stopped writing in this part. Should Severus accept the invite or not? **I** want him to, but Severus seems like he doesn't.. But I still don't know. D: Help? lol

See you in a week?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes:** Hello, dears! s2 Last chapter I got the best response so far! It's so nice to know that you guys are liking my fanfic! English comes so hard to me that's a really nice feeling knowing that my struggle is worth! But let's talk about your comments from last chapter...

 _PiffyEQ, usuihentai727,_ angelous369, _Hime-chan Natsumi, Suzululu4moe, NatNicole,_ I'mToLazyToFindOne, and my dear guests all said that YES, Severus should go with James and Sirius! I was a little surprised, because I was really uncertain if Severus should go... But you guys with your comments got my mind buzzing with some ideas and that's why here is chapter 5!

One guest asked me to Severus _discovers he has an ancient and rare secret legacy._.. I have to unfortunately disappoint you in this, because I don't want to change the verse that much. Well, he'll not come to any creature inheritance... But he'll be a lord of an ancient noble family... That's good enough? Hope so.

And I just gave you all spoilers of my own fic. Urgh. Sometimes I can't even with myself... lol

Enjoy!

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5**

 **~o~**

"Well, are you free today? You could come to my house and I would teach you how to fly! How's that? I live in London, so we could go there and me and Sirius could have a seeker match and you could watch!" James proposed Severus excitedly.

 _WHAT? Is he inviting me to go to his house? Why?!_ Severus thought with incredulously.

"Well, it's not that I don't want to go," said Severus slowly, "but I think that my mother wouldn't let me." _And I don't think I want to go to your house… We just met!_

"We could ask her," Sirius suggested.

"Yes, where's she?" James asked.

Severus looked at both of them, seeing both excitedly waiting for his answer. Well, he can't just lie to them, there'd be no good excuse if they insisted in asking to talk with his mother after he lied about her… He definitely doesn't want to be known by his future school mates as a liar. He has to tell them the truth.

Severus motioned to them to get closer to him before whispering, "I'm here alone, my mother doesn't know that I left home to come here…"

"No way," Sirius whispered in awe. "Are you really here by your own?"

"Yes," Severus answered.

"Then why don't you want to come with us?" James asked.

"Because I can't be late! I'm here since 9 am!" _Well, that's a reasonable excuse._ "If I come home too late she would be really preoccupied with me! I said was going to the park..."

"We'll not be there for much time, I promise, " said James. "You could go home in less than two hours, I'm sure!"

"Are you sure?" Severus asked anxiously. "I have to go home by 5 pm…"

He doesn't have to, but it's one hour before it's time to Tobias to come home. His mother doesn't care how much he spends outside, but Tobias on the other hand would never let it pass.

"There's enough time," said James confidently while grinning to Severus, knowing he already have convinced his new mate to join him and Sirius. "We can get you flying in a broom in less than one hour!"

"Totally!" Sirius interject. "Is it a deal then?"

 _No._ Severus wanted to say, but refrained to. He usually avoids talking and _interacting_ with kids in his age because Severus and them just don't _work_. But right now he's in a completely different situation from his usual… These two are magical children. And if Severus wants to be a part of the magical word he should become used on talking with other people… That's why the words, "Yes, it's a deal," slipped from his mouth.

"Awesome!" Sirius shouted while grinning like a mad person. "You're are going to be awesome flying because me and James!"

"Well, we'll teach you the basics so when you start the flying lessons you will not have much difficulty and you can play quidditch with us later!" James said sounding as excited as Sirius.

 _I doubt I'll be playing quidditch… Heavens be damned if I start doing sports… Team sports above all!_ Despite his thoughts, Severus nodded at both of them with a small smile.

After receiving the answer from Severus, they left the shop and headed to the Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Severus, who have never been inside an ice cream parlor, discretely looked at every corner of the shop, enjoying the sweet smell around him and the pretty things decorating the shop.

"James, where were you!?" A woman's voice hissed from besides them and all three turn to look at the witch seated at one of the tables in the parlor.

"I'm sorry I'm late, mother. I was talking with Sirius and Severus inside the Quidditch shop." James said in a apologizing tone.

"Severus?" The wizard seated besides James' mother asked. Who, Severus guessed, is probably James' father.

"Oh, yeah, this is Severus Snape," James said nodding towards Severus. "We just met at the Quality Quidditch shop. He's going to Hogwarts too!"

Severus, after being directly mentioned, looked less discretely at the couple seating at the table, both adults with expensive looking clothes and elegant postures giving both of them a powerful air. They were equally looking at him, not quite like they were studying him, but just seeming curious about his presence

"Hello," Severus greeted politely with a small nod. "My name is Severus Snape, nice to meet you."

"Hello, Mr. Snape, my name is Dorea Potter and this is my husband Charlus Potter. Nice to meet you too," James' mother greeted him back, before asking curiously, "Excuse me, but who are your parents? I have never heard about a Snape family in London's magical society."

Severus looked at the witch, trying to see if there's some kind of malice behind her words, but he found none. Thank the gods he was wearing clothes that are new and good quality and didn't look too different from wizard's clothes… He would be feeling like a dirty homeless if he was talking with this elegant couple the way he looked like two years ago.

"I'm a half-blood, Ms. Potter. My mother's maiden name was Eileen Prince." Severus explained with an even voice, like he was calm and not like his insides were boiling with rage! Will everyone he meets ask about his parentage? His mother talked about pureblood society once or twice… But blood purity is truly more import than he thought! He doesn't want to have to mention that his mother married Tobias every damn time!

"Oh, I remember Eileen! Snape did you say? After graduating from Hogwarts not a single soul knew where she went. It's curious that... It doesn't matter!" The witch said dismissing whatever she was starting to say. "Come sit with us boys, you two are already one hour late!"

"I'm really sorry mother… But may I ask if you could do something for us?" James said while they sat, but as the table is a square one, Sirius had to grab a chair from a near table to sit.

"What do you want, dear?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"You see, me and Sirius met Severis only an hour ago and we were talking about quidditch… But Severus didn't even know what Quidditch is and he had never flew in a broom-" James started saying but was interrupted by Charlus Potter.

"Aren't you a half-blood, Mr. Snape?" The wizard asked Severus, sounding like he was a little suspicious.

"Yes, I'm a half-blood, sir," Severus answered before admitting honestly to the couple. "But I grew in a muggles neighborhood. The first time I came to Diagon Alley was to buy my school supplies."

Both of the adults seemed surprised by what Severus said, making him frown at them a little. It was becoming a little stressful to behave like a polite kid... Their actions were so confusing!

James's mother gave him a strained smile when she caught his frowning. "You see, Severus. I was a sixth year prefect when Eileen Prince arrived in Hogwarts… By her second year, she was known to be the best potions student of Hogwarts. The highest score a student had ever achieved in a long time. When I was graduating, Slughorn was already talking about inviting her to his club. Being the best potions student and the fact the she was from the Noble House of Prince left him completely smitten with her…"

Severus was listening to the witch's take with wide eyes and avid attention. "My mother was the best potions student of Hogwarts?!"

"Yes, but if there was one thing beside potions that Eileen was known for was her beliefs in blood purity..." Mrs. Potter grimaced and paused a little after having said that, but she kept talking. "To know that she ended marrying a muggle is quite… _Difficult_ to believe. But hearing from you now, that your mother married a muggle, it finally explains the reason she disappeared without a trace. Myself, I'm from one of the sacred noble families, the Ancient Noble House of Black and when I married Charlus, who is from the ancient Potter line, everyone questioned our relationship to some degree. Marrying a muggle though..."

Severus was speechless. Eileen had said she is a pureblood, but she didn't mention that she's from a _Noble House,_ and if it means what he thinks it means… How could she give up everything to live with Tobias Snape?! "No one knew that she married a muggle?" he asked Mrs. Potter.

"If her family knew, they didn't say anything. But I doubt that, because if they knew I'm sure she would have been disowned from the family… All they said to everyone is that she left a hateful note and said that she would _explore the world_ … That silly girl."

Now Severus was speechless and shocked. Why would his mother rebel against her family, run away and marry Tobias in secret? If he could at least know-

"But let's not continue talking about this, it's a sensible subject after all..." Ms. Potter quickly amended, bringing Severus back to reality from his angry thoughts. Not knowing what to say, he just nodded at her silently, not wanting to keep discussing the subject with them either.

"So," said James hesitantly, "I was going to ask if one of you could apparate or floo us back home, me and Sirius wanted to play with Severus and show him how to fly in a broom..."

"Yes! That would be so-"

"You don't need to convince us, Sirius," said Mr. Potter with a chuckle interrupting Sirius, he probably knew what would come out. "As today is Monday, unfortunately I can't go, and my lunch break just finished minutes ago… I must go back to the ministry. Are you going to get them home, Dorea?"

"I will, dear," said Dorea with a smile and then she inclined her head to her left and waited for Charlus to kiss her cheek after he rose from his chair.

"Good bye, boys. Enjoy your last day before Hogwarts!" Charlus said before grabbing his golden pocket watch and disappearing from the parlor silently.

Severus had to fight to not let his mouth drop. _What Mr. Potter just did?!_

"Do you boys want some ice cream before flooing home?" Dorea asked looking at them. Seeing all boys shaking their heads, she lead them out of the parlor to the nearest fireplace connected to the Floo Network, while she explained exactly this to Severus who listened eagerly. He already read about it in one of his books, but it didn't talk much about the actual fireplace and how it works. Only about the adjustments a person had to make before someone responsible from the Floo Network come to the person's house and add the fireplace to the network.

When the group finally arrived at their destination, stopping in front of the fireplace, Severus felt his tummy twist itself. He was so anxious to use the floo for the first time! Sirius and James went first, and as soon as they left, Dorea and Severus stepped inside the fireplace, her arm involving Severus' shoulders tightly before saying "Potter Manor, London!" and be engulfed by green flames.

The next thing Severus hears is James whining voice saying "No! Mother grabbed him," and both of the boys laughing.

"It's okay to feel a little disoriented after the first time, dear." Mrs. Potter said still supporting him while he recovered from the trip.

"I feel sick." Severus said in a tired voice. He felt so… Weird. _Bad weird_.

"I know the feel, mate," Sirius said showing sympathy. "First time using the floo is the worst!"

"You can't remember your first time flooing, Sirius." Dorea said shaking her head. "Neither can you, James."

"Of course I can remember!" Sirius said stubbornly. "I didn't speak with my mother and father for a week! I was traumatized!", he cried.

"Enough drama, Sirius." Dorea said rolling her eyes at the boy, then she turned to look at Severus. "Are you feeling better, Mr. Snape?"

"Thank you, I'm better now." Severus replied. "You can call me Severus if you want, Mrs. Potter."

"Then you can call me Dorea, Severus." Dorea replied with a smile. "But off you go! Anything you boys need, just call Neaty, I have some papers to read."

"Ok, mother, bye!" James said before he and Sirius dragged Severus from the entrance room to the manor's patio.

Severus, after saying his own goodbye to Mrs. Potter, was finally aware of where he was… In a magical home! And in a manor no less! As he followed Sirius and James he looked wide eyed at the luxurious rooms he passed. He was half listening to what James was saying, his mind much more overwhelmed by all the rooms! All of them were decorated with a classic style, most walls were a different shade of pastel colors, given them a finesse and elegance air. There were lots of live portraits like the ones he saw on Diagon Alley, and most of them greeted the boys when they passed by. It was such a beautiful place to live! When they arrived in the manor's patio, another beautiful place in Severus opinion, James went to collect his and Sirius' broom and as well two others broom, one for children and an adult one.

"This is the children's broom." James showed him the smallest of the two brooms he was carrying. "It has a lot of restrictions like how fast you can go and how high you can get. And a lot of safety charms, even you feel like falling, you probably just roll in the broom until you get your equilibrium again… Do you want to try this first before the other one?" he asked Severus.

"I think it would be better if you at least try to fly in the children's one first." Sirius gave his input when Severus kept looking to the adult's broom.

"Yeah, ok. I'll try the _children's broom_." Severus said darkly.

"We swear it's not to make funny of you," James promised seriously. Severus looked at him with suspicious in his eyes, but seeing the serious look in James face, he let himself believe in James' words.

"We swear for Morgana's tits," said Sirius with a malicious smirk, one that he did not wipe out even with Severus and James glaring at him.

"You can't swear by someone's tits, that's just plain wrong." Severus protested as he grabbed the small broom. "What do I do now?" he asked anxiously.

"Put it down in front of you, stick out your right hand over the broom and say 'Up!" James instructed.

Doing just what James explained, he put the broom down on the lawn and with a hesitant voice he shouted "Up!"

The broom jumped right into his hand.

"You did it!" James congratulated him with a smile. He then proceeded to show Severus how to mount the broom without sliding off the end. In less than ten minutes Severus was flying around in the patio!

"This is awesome!" Severus shouted while he laughed freely of worries. If flying in a children's broom could already be this awesome how would feel flying in one without restrictions?! "I want to fly on the adult one," he said as he stopped in front of James and mounted off the broom.

"Are you sure?" James asked.

"Completely… This is awesome!" Severus said with a big smile to James.

"Didn't we said that to you?!" Sirius said smugly. "It is one of the best feelings in the world! When you mount in a racing broom, you'll see how it is even more awesome!"

"That's exactly what I was hoping," Severus replied with a beaming smile. James then gave the racing broom to him as he got back the children's one.

"You can do the same things as you did with the first broom," said James. Then he and Sirius mounted in their own brooms and floated besides Severus. "Copy everything that we do, we'll be besides you every moment. Okay?"

"Okay."

James and Sirius proceeded to make turns, loops, deeps… Everything slow at the first try, but progressively gaining speed.

Severus felt like he was dreaming. There's no other way to describe how he was feeling right now... This happiness only getting compared with his happiest memory so far: the first time he performed magic! It was exhilarating!

When they finally landed, Severus did not have the slightest idea how much time has passed! If it was already late he couldn't care less! He would receive Tobias' punishment and smile after…

"Nesty," James shouted as soon as they landed.

"Young Master called Neaty?"

Severus was not prepared to see a creature appearing from nowhere in front of them. It looked like a bald mouse! But with bug eyes and a too large forehead… Wait, it doesn't look like a mouse. _What is that?!_

"What time is it, Neaty?" James asked the creature.

"It's a quarter to four, young Master." Neaty replied after snapping her fingers.

"That would be all, Neaty, you may go." James said to the creature before turning to look to Sirius and Severus. "We have time for a best of three!"

"What creature was that?" asked Severus at the same time that Sirius shouted "Yes, let's play!"

" _What_?" Sirius asked confused.

"What creature was that?" Severus repeated the question, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Oh, that's a house-elf." James replied with a shrug. " You didn't have one? Who cleans your house?"

 _Apparently, I was the house-elf in my home._ Severus thought bitterly. Well, at least he solved the mystery of what is a House-elf and why someone deemed a good idea to write a book about what to do when you don't have a house-elf…

"My mother cleaned my home, she liked to do it." Severus lied.

"Oh, your mother is strange…" James with a frown.

"Don't say that about his mother, James…" Sirius said and shook his head at James.

"Well, you know what I-"

"It's okay, guys." Severus said interrupting James. "Do a best of three seeker match or whatever that means for me to see..."

James looked sheepishly at Severus before giving him a smile and mounting on his broom. Sirius also mounting his.

"A seeker match is quite simple: the first seeker who catches the golden snitch wins! And obviously, I'm going to win because I'm the best." Sirius said with a smirk.

"Shut up, Sirius." James said annoyed, then he took the snitch from his pockets and gave it to Severus. "Just throw it as hard as you can."

Severus grabbed the pretty golden snitch and with only a bit of hesitation he threw the it.

"We wait a minute of two before going to search for it." Sirius said. "It is charmed to not leave past the yard or not too high… But it gets pretty high only a few meters below the Hogwarts' limit!"

"That's cool," Severus said impressed.

"Okay, that's enough time. Severus just say Go for us to go…" James instructed.

"Go!" Severus shouted as soon as James stopped talking, getting both so surprised that they spend a few seconds looking at him before realizing and rushed to get the snitch.

Sirius won twice and James only once, declaring Sirius as the winner as soon as he catch the snitch for the second time.

"What did I say? Hum? Who is the better player? Oh, Yes, it's Sirius Black, baby." Sirius taunted James all the way until they landed and James looking completely pissed the whole time. "Remember this, Severus, so you can confirm to other people if James denies it!"

"Shut it, Sirius. I swear to Merlin, shut it." James threatened.

"Oh poor, James… He can't lose. He becomes all sensitive about it." Sirius kept taunting.

"Please, you two, stop fighting!" Severus said with a raised voice, not daring to actually shout at them. "And I need to get home…"

"Sorry, Severus." James said and once again looked sheepishly at him. "Are you sure you can't stay more? We eat dinner at 6, you could stay and eat with us..."

Severus honestly wants to stay, surprising even himself, but he resists and shakes his head sadly at James.

"I'm sorry, James, but I really can't."

"That's okay, mate. We'll have seven years to do that…" James said with a smile. "Let's leave the brooms here, I call Neaty to get them later…"

Sirius and Severus nodded and left their brooms on the grass, following James to inside the house.

"Hey, do you guys can practice spells?" Severus suddenly asked as they walked to the fireplace room.

"We can practice with the training wands that our tutor brings to our classes." Sirius replies with a shrug. "Why?"

"Mr. Ollivander said that I couldn't practice with my wand." Severus replied honestly, but not telling the entire truth either. Well, now he knew that the magic children could indeed practice magic when they are not using their wands.

"Oh yes, that's true." Sirius said. "We can only use our training wands during classes… Our real wands are kept with our parents! They don't trust us." he explained with a sad sigh.

 _Just as I theorized…_ Severus thought smugly, but instead replied with feigned sympathy. "That is horrible!"

"It is, isn't it?" Sirius sobbed while faking sniffs…

Count on Sirius to be dramatic.

"Can you go alone back to the Diagon Alley or you want me to call my mother?" James asked when they arrived in front of the fireplace.

"No, I think I got it. Throw the floo powder, shout the destination and try not to fall when you get there..." Severus said darkly, making James and Sirius laugh.

"It was cool to meet you, Severus." James said with a smile. "I'm sure we'll all be sorted into Gryffindor and be best mates!"

"I'm sure I'll go to Gryffindor too!" Sirius shouted with his chest puffed.

"About that… What do you mean by being sorted?" Severus asked curiously. "I remember that you said that all my mother's family was from Slytherin and now you are saying that you guys will be in Gryffindor… Is Hogwarts divided in two?"

"It is divided in four!" James said. "Slytherin, Gryffindor, Huffle-Puffle and Ravenclaw… Gryffindor is the best house because is where the brave wizards go! The Slytherin, though is for the… _Sly_ people… My father is from Gryffindor, as well all the Potters, but my mother is from the Black family so she was sorted in Slytherin. But she's not evil at all!"

"I'm not evil or a pureblood supremacist! So I'll not go to Slytherin, I'll be the first Black in Gryffindor!" Sirius said proudly. "I bet that you'll go to Gryffindor with us, Severus."

"Well, I don't know…" Severus replied, keeping the thought that his mother was from Slytherin to think about later.

"We can talk about the houses and the sorting tomorrow in the Hogwarts express train!" James suggested.

"That would be good, thanks James. But I must go back now… It was good to meet you both." he said with a smile, he was indeed feeling a lot happier and even more excited to go to Hogwarts, knowing that he'll have friends while he freely study magic! It sounds like heaven to him.

 **~o~**

Severus arrived home at a half past five, giving him only time to rush to his room, undress his dirty clothes and have a quickly shower before going down the stairs and have dinner. When he arrived there, his mother was already serving his father's food.

"Good night, father, mother," Severus greeted politely, but with no emotion behind. He sat on his usual chair and then poured some soup for himself and grabbed a bread to eat with.

"Why were you showering, Severus?" Tobias asked with a bored voice.

"I spent the day playing in the playground, so I showered before coming to have dinner." Severus lied with a calm voice.

"That I doubt… Who would play with you?" Tobias said with a snort. "Will you be leaving to the that clown school tomorrow?"

"Yes, father, I'll go to Hogwarts tomorrow."

"That's good…" Tobias said before turning to look to Eileen. "Will you get him to the station, little pet?"

"Yes, Tobias."

"Oh, well, that's even better! Glad you didn't ask me, boy… Someone has to work in this house to put food in your ungrateful bellies."

Dinner didn't get any better that night… And even after sarcasm and insults later, when they finished the dinner, Severus still couldn't stop himself from trying to say goodbye to his father before going to sleep. But he only received a "Go to your room, boy.", so he went to his room.

The good thing of his father's foul mood today is that it distracted him from thinking about his mother and all information he now has about her past. So he preferred to focus on his bad feelings for his father instead of interrogating his mother for answers he knows he'll not get from her. When he went to sleep that night, he slept with a smile on his face, because tomorrow everything will change for the better… He'll go to Hogwarts! He already can see the bright future he'll have there!

Or so he's hoping...

 _Yes, I'll not fool myself thinking that everything will be roses… Because there will be thorns along the way… But I'll get through them and thrive._

That he will.

* * *

Soooo? Was it good? boring? bad? _that_ bad?

This week I have two exams, an essay and a project! I'll **not** have time to write. So this time it'll be a week for the next chapter! XD I'm actually should have been studying all sunday, but I spent writing this chapter instead.. urgh. I shouldn't bet I have zero self control... c_c

Hope that you all have a great week!

See ya!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes: hello, my dears. I'm happy that you guys liked last chapter, it was so hard for me to write it! Because you see, the only person who changed in this whole fic is** **Severus! Eileen doesn't count because we don't really her in canon, so I have to keep trying to write the other characters, like Sirius and James as they are in canon: in their case, the future little bullies that they would become (there's not going around it, they bullied Sev). But as we know the goal of this is fic is to make Severus changes things for better, including other people's opinions and behaviours!**

 **Dorea's description of Eileen from last chapter : Someone was concerned about that and the idea of Eileen being a pureblood supremacist… I can only say that looks can be deceiving. She was a slytherin, her different perception of blood was well hidden from the people around her. But instead of voicing her opinions and being disowned like in canon, she kept it for herself… And for the people who wish to know more about her, just keep reading. :)**

 **Thanks _PiffyEQ, NatNicole, crankypants16, usuihentai727, Hime-chan, tigerlily124 and nunu3_ for the comments! As always you guys cheer me up to keep writing! s2**

 **But without further ado, let's get into:**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6**

It's half past ten on the morning of September 1st and Severus is already seated in the Hogwarts Express, trunk packed away and a book on his lap. He wanted to search for James and Sirius, but he decided against it, he isn't feeling like starting a conversation with new people right now… Because there's no way to know if they are already together with their other friends. So he gets comfortable in his seat, tucking himself and his book, letting his imagination fly high as reads a book about dragons and wizards fighting side by side in their amazing fictional tale. Simply enjoying the fact it was not a textbook for once...

Severus was so engrossed in his book that when the train started to move, he did not pay attention to it all, not stopping his read until the compartment's door was suddenly open, startling him and making him almost drop his book!

"He's here!" A familiar voice shouted, terribly loud in the small compartment.

Severus looked up to see the form of Sirius Black grinning madly at him from the door.

"Why did you choose this compartment?" Sirius inquired, whining like a brat child, as he entered the compartment, guiding his floating trunk. "Me and James spent _ages_ searching for you! And you were here, in the _last_ compartment!"

"I'm sorry...?" Severus said with blank face. Well, Severus did want to ride the train with them, but he did not expect them to want to travel with _him_ … It warms his heart a little, making him let go of his uneasiness and annoyance caused by Sirius sudden invasion. He decided to not scold Sirius like he was planning. "I arrived early and did not see you or James anywhere in the station so I came to sit in here," he explained with a shrug.

"Oh, that's okay I guess…" Sirius said with a frown while he scratched his head, sitting in the opposite side of Severus.

The door banged open again.

"Hiya, Severus!" James greeted with a big smile and a foot on the door, to close it. Same as Sirius, he had too a floating trunk following him, which he packed quickly and sat besides Sirius with a huff. "It took us almost twenty minutes to find you!"

"Sirius said it took _hours_ …" Severus provoked with a smirk.

"I said it took _ages!_ " Sirius defended himself, making a spectacle of a pouting face.

Severus was already with a sharp retort on his lips when a knock on the door interrupted their conversation, and for the third time the door was opened. However, against all the probabilities, he had never considered the familiar face of the red haired girl to open his compartment and look at three boys with a shy smile before asking, "Can I stay here?"

"Of course," said James with a smile and an encouraging hand gesture.

"Thank you," the girl replied and dragged her heavy trunk into the compartment.

"Didn't your parents charm your trunk?" Sirius asked with a frown, but a bat of eyelid later both he and James went to grab the trunk from the girl, with some struggle, they helped her to tuck the trunk away, promptly dismissing the girl's thank-yous.

Severus already knew the answer for Sirius question about her parents, but did not say anything when Sirius asked her again about the trunk.

"I'm a _muggleborn_." The girl said with a small voice, looking completely different from herself seconds ago, skittish and with her big eyes carrying an unexpected afraidness. She was standing in the middle of the compartment and didn't attempt to sit, just looked at the three boys like they were going to yell at her or something...

"That's okay, no one here has a problem with it," Severus said with an assuring voice, talking to her for the first time.

Evan looked at him with hopeful eyes, and before he could talk again, her eyes went wide and her mouth hanged open. "Oh my god, I know you! We study in the same school!"

"Yes," Severus replied with an acknowledging nod before giving her a small smile, she had remembered him after all. "I remember you too, Evan, but never suspected that you were also a witch..."

"I didn't even know that there were other wizards like me before Professor McGonagall showed up in my house! I thought the letter was a joke! I was so happy to discover that I'm really a witch… Oh, and you know my name!" Evan said excitedly. "Is your name S- Sap- Spa-"

"Severus Snape." Severus supplied, not wanting to spend hours while she tried to remember his name because he had already remembered hers. After all his changes, and the way he carries himself now it wouldn't be an easy task to recognize him if she didn't have payed some attention to his person. But he was thankful that she didn't comment something about his old looks, he didn't want his new friends to know how he was before.

She smiled shyly at him. "It would have been so good if I had known anyone else... Me and my sister got in so many fights, because she always said that I was a freak." Evan said with a sad voice. "I wouldn't have suffered because of my sister if I knew you…"

Severus wanted to roll his eyes at her. She thinks that she suffered by being called a freak by another kid?! She really doesn't know what suffering actually entails, but whatever. She was just a kid, and not all of them gets to know _his_ type of suffering… So he only nods his head again, showing sympathy for what she confessed. It guilt him a little not interfering one of her fights with her sister, but he did really other things at the time to worry about.

"My name is Sirius Black," greeted Sirius, breaking the awkward silence that had installed in the compartment.

"And mine is James Potter! We don't care at all that you are a muggleborn! C'mon, have a seat!" James said and gestured for her to seat next to Severus, who nodded and too offered the seat to her.

"Did your sister said something to you about muggleborns? Why did you think that we would have a problem with you being one?" James asked her as she sat.

"It wasn't my sister," she replied while grimacing a little. "I was in one of the compartments talking with three other girls when they started to insult me in the moment I told them that I'm a muggleborn." Evan explained, her eyes not leaving her twisting hands in her lap. "It got pretty bad and I didn't want to fight, so I left their compartment… That's when I saw you guys entering this one and I decided to make a try… It was really worth it… Oh, and by the way my name is Lily Evans!"

"You have a beautiful name, Lily." James complimented with a charming smile, making Lily blush heavily.

"And your name… Is… Okay? I guess?" Lily said stammering a little, making James and Sirius laugh out aloud and Severus smirk.

"I like _my_ name," Sirius said, shoving James by the shoulder, who sneered at him. "My family has a tradition of naming every child by constellations, stars, planets… It's pretty cool!"

"My family has a tradition too!" Lily said with an excited voice, clearly more comfortable with them. "Every girl has a flower name! My sister is called Petunia and my mother is Rosemary… It goes on and on and my mother doesn't know who started, but our family have been doing it for a long time." Lily said with a laugh, looking somewhat proud and amused by her family.

"That's usually a wizard tradition… Are you sure you are a muggleborn?" Sirius asked with a frown.

"As far I know yes, everyone from my family is a muggle…" Lily answered, shrugging.

"Well, I like _my_ name too." James interrupted their conversation with a proud voice, puffing his chest almost like a peacock, only making Sirius snorts at him.

"Let's not talk about names… Mine is just _urgh_." Severus said with a grimace.

"I like your name… It's… Okay? I guess?" Sirius mocked, mimicking Lily and making everyone laugh, even Severus, to his disgrace.

But he soon recovered, and looked at Sirius with his eyebrows arched up. "Do you like my name? Are you serious?" Severus asked with a smirk.

"Of course, I'm Sirius!" Sirius replied with a beaming smile to Severus. "Oh, and we could call you Sev!"

"That's a cute name!" Lily said with a giggle. "Let's use it, _Sev_!"

"Absolutely not!" Severus protested vehemently. "You said making it sounds like… _Savvy_ … And no one will not call me that!" Severus threatened while looking each one at their eye.

"Of course, Sev." Sirius said with a sweet smile, making Severus eyes bulge, internally screaming at Sirius.

"You just brought it for yourself in the moment you said you didn't want it," James said in a condescending tone, shaking his head at Severus, failing to hide his smile.

"I'll turn all your clothes pink if any of you call me Sev," Severus threatened with a hissing voice, making Sirius and James suddenly straight up themselves in their seats.

"Severus! You wouldn't!" Sirius shouted with his mouth hanging open.

Severus grimaced with Sirius loudness, but he quickly turned it into a smirk. He knew for sure that if he kept talking and protesting about it, he'll never hear the end of this blasted name. So to not let the subject grow, he quickly changed it with a provocation at Sirius. "You talk too loudly, Sirius. Please, don't keep doing it… When I finish Hogwarts I still want to have my ears working!"

Never in a million years, Severus would have said it to Sirius in normal circumstances. However, since yesterday, he truly felt like he could build a friendship with them… One that he has enough intimacy to say things like that to Sirius.

Sirius, being the brat that he's, now supported a huge pout on his lips. "I'm not loud!"

"You are loud, Sirius." James deadpanned.

"See if I'll talk with any of you again..." Sirius said with disgust, crossing his arms when he saw Severus rolling his eyes at him.

James snorted. "He will never listen when I say this to him... I think he talks so loud because his ears are already damaged!"

"Shut up, James," Sirius complained, but it fell on deaf ears.

"See? He's like this since we were kids," James said with amusement, shaking his head.

"You guys are all friends since little?" Lily asked, looking at Severus with a surprised look. Severus just shook his head with a no.

"Sirius is my cousin, so yes, we know each other since we were born!" James replied and shoved Sirius, making the boy sneer at him.

"I met these two yesterday when I was at Diagon Alley…" Severus replied when Lily asked the same question to him. When he looked back at Sirius, he almost laughed out aloud at the pouting face and the accusatory eyes directed at him. Taking pity on the brat, he hides his smile and tries to brighten his mood a little. "I'm sorry, Sirius. But please, do not shout in my ear or in small places like this one... They are still hurting since yesterday when you shouted after you won the match and James lost."

Severus knows by the sudden shine in Sirius eyes that he was successful in distracting the boy.

"Lily," Sirius called the girl with a sweet voice. "Do you know something about quidditch?"

"Hum yes, but just the basic. Why?"

"Oh, because we are going to have flying lesson in Hogwarts, so we'll have opportunities to play Quidditch together when you learn how to fly!"

"That would be so awesome!" Lily said excitedly, squealing a little. "I want to learn how to play, at least just a little!"

"I'm sure we'll teach you! And you'll not even worry about winning or something… Even when we play only a seeker match, James is really bad when he plays against me, so we could-"

"Woa! Wait a minute!" James interrupted angrily, looking at Sirius with a shocked expression.

"What? Is true!" Sirius replied. "You can't deny it!"

"Of course I can deny it! I'm a much better player!"

"James, my friend, you are not," Sirius said and gave a disappointed look to James. And when he tried to defend himself again, Sirius resumed talking before him. "Severus, the last time you watched us playing who won the game?" Sirius asked Severus with a bored tone of voice.

"Sirius won," Severus replied without blinking.

"Severus! You weren't supposed to say that! And you only watched one game!" James accused. "You can't believe in Sirius, Lily. He's a compulsive liar!"

Sirius laughs looking at Severus and Lily with mirth in his eyes, making James even more pissed at his friend.

"You have betrayed me, Severus," James said, directing his anger to his next target. In this case, the not so innocent Severus.

"I have not," Severus denied. "Lily, do you think that have I betrayed James?"

Lily giggled and looked over to James, who were looking at her like his life depends on Lily's answer. Her whole face softens as she smiles at him. "What time do we arrive in Hogwarts?" She asked, the subject changing dramatically.

 _You are a sly one, Lily Evans_. Severus laughs inside his own head. Both Sirius and James had to take time to actually process what the girl said from out of nowhere and avoided to get herself in their crossfire…

"Why? Are you hungry?" Severus asked.

"Ah little, yes." She says with a small smirk, but Severus knew too well the reason she had that smirk. "Do you know if they sell food in the train?"

"There's a cart that pass with some food and candy," James supplied, apparently being over his confusion stupor. "My parents gave money for me to buy things and save it for later…"

"My mother gave me some too," Sirius replied.

"My mother didn't," Severus said making all of the three turn to look at him with different reactions. He would lie a little to them, but this is a perfect moment for him to show his jar. "Because she gave me something even more awesome."

"What is it?" Sirius asked in a whisper, his attention completely on Severus.

"It's a self-refilling candy jar," Severus answered with a smile.

"No way," Sirius denied in awe.

"It has four type of candies and chocolates that I can eat as much as I want and it will never end!" Severus explained with an excited voice, as his eyes filled with glee just talking about his jar. The others would assume his happiness comes from having one jar, but the actual reason is because his mother didn't _buy it, he made it_! He's going to be proud of it all his life...

"Let me see it, please, Severus!" Sirius asked looking eagerly at Severus.

"Ok, it's in my trunk." Severus said, leaving his book on his seat and going to get the jar from his trunk.

"How does it works?" Lily asked with curiosity.

"They are very expensive jars that you buy with whatever you want to put inside it. As soon as you grab one, the jar replaces it…" James explained sounding as excited as Sirius.

"And if you take it out of the jar?"

"What? I just said, if you take it out it'll be replaced," James explained.

"No, what I'm asking is if one person turned the jar upside down? It would be a never ending flow of candy?" Lily asked.

"Yes, that's what happens!" James said confirming Lily's guess. "Cool isn't it?"

Severus, who was in the process of closing his trunk after retrieving the candy jar, listened the conversation between the two. He was a little surprised to hear James saying that these type of jar were expensive, but after what he said soon after, it made clear to Severus that his jar wasn't the same type as the expensive ones. The doubling and the preservation spell were in the candies instead of being cast on the jar itself, so if he were to turn upside down his jar, it wouldn't start a never ending flow of candies… But Severus is nothing but eager to learn new things, he would study a way to make these expensive jars and maybe sell them to the other students? That was a good idea!

"Here, mine has four things: a peppermint, a caramel, a strawberry flavor soft licorice and a cherry truffle." Severus presented his jar to everyone, he opened it and offered his candy to them. Both James and Sirius went to grab a cherry truffle and a caramel each as Lily took a strawberry flavor licorice.

"Dear Merlin, this truffle is so good!" James said before going after another two of them. Sirius on the other hand went after the caramels, stuffing at least four in his mouth if Severus counted it right.

"And this is the best strawberry licorice that I ever ate!" Lily said after squeaking a playful "Yummy!" and devouring the licorice.

Severus smiled brightly at them, he spent a lot of time searching for the best candies to fill his jar and having people share the same reactions he had when he taste them for the first time was exhilarating.

"I love these candies! Glad to see that everyone liked it!" Severus said with a honest smile.

"Glad you shared them with _us_ ," Sirius said. "Can we see what happen if we put other food inside it?"

"When we arrive at Hogwarts, yes, we can try." Severus replied, not wanting to encouraging them to try with the cart's food. He didn't want them to know that this wasn't the type of jar they were thinking. And he wouldn't perform the doubling charm or any magic in front of them outside of Hogwarts just yet. He didn't have that trust in them _yet_.

After a while their conversation stopped and their moods calmed down as the hours of travel started to stretch and tire the occupants of the compartment. Severus went back to his book, Lily took a nap while Sirius and James played a game after another, until they started to play what they called exploding snap game and tried to do it quietly… Or as quietly as an exploding snap game could be. Obviously, the quietness only last until the first explosion, waking Lily up and making Severus lose his concentration on his book. In the end, all of them started to play the game because even Severus admitted it was a really fun game.

Some time later, they changed into their school robes and settled themselves again in their seats. Only more thirty minutes and they would take their first step inside Hogwarts. There isn't a single first year calm and relaxed, all of them anxious and already impatient, even if they don't show it. Like Severus, who appears calm while his heart beats like crazy on his chest thinking about what is to come.

One of his several concerns is about the sorting and which house he'll be sorted into. His mother reluctantly confessed that she was a Slytherin in Hogwarts, but said nothing else about it even when Severus asked. If he hadn't meet with James and Sirius, he would have be delighted to be sorted in Slytherin, but his two new friends have only said bad things about Slytherin, leaving Severus to fret. For what he gathered from them, you can't exactly choose where you go, but Sirius is a hundred percent sure that he can get sorted in Gryffindor along James, not minding that his family prided themselves to be a _Slytherin family_. He wants to go to his mother's house, but he wants to follow Sirius and James, because will not be with his mother that he'll spend seven years of Hogwarts…When the subject is brought into their conversation, Severus stayed with his mouth shut, lost in his own thoughts until Sirius called his name for the second time and Severus knew he had to talk about it.

Fortunately, at the same time that Sirius started to repeat his question to Severus, a voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.", making everyone shut their mouths. James and Sirius roused from their seat and motioned to Severus and Lily follow them to the train's corridor, joining the crowd.

When they left the train, they were greeted by a tiny and dark platform and a giant of a man yelling at them, "Firs' years! Firs' years! Come here and follow me! Firs' years!"

Someone bumps Severus and doesn't even say sorry, just keep walking like he didn't nothing. The place was packed, and that made Severus mood sour a little. He hates crowded places!

"Firs' years! Over here!"

Severus felt a hand grab his left wrist and immediately looked up to see Sirius. Something must have showed in his face, because Sirius gave him a bright smile and brought his head closer to his before whispering "So we don't get separated, okay?"

Severus smiled in return, showing his gratitude for Sirius thoughtful action, and like this they followed the huge man blindly in the dark. He looked to his right to see if James and Lily were still close to him and Sirius when suddenly both of their mouths gaped, then they and everyone else started to whisper and 'oooh' in awe. Curious, Severus finally looked to what was causing everyone's reactions: Hogwarts in all its sparkling and magical glory.

Something stirred inside him and all he could feel was a warm feeling spreading in his heart. Not even the cold air of the night could dissipate the feeling as he kept looking at the castle.

James, Sirius, Lily and him got together into one of the boats and the ride to Hogwarts was as magical as they all hoped. They reached a kind of underground harbor, where they climbed out of their boat onto rocks and pebbles, walking on it until they reached smooth and damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

For Severus, things were happening too fast. He wanted to relish the moment, feel the brilliant magic that the castle was emanating, connect with it right now. But his rational mind reminded him that his going to live in here. _So calm down, Severus._

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door of the castle. Their giant guide raised his gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door and everyone stopped breathing.

Professor McGonagall, as she presented her name to them when she opened the door to them, guided them to a small, empty chamber next to the Great Hall, where loud voices could be heard from it. She spoke about the houses like it was serious matter, making Severus even more nervous about it, and finished her speech with a warning before leaving, "The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I _suggest_ you all remain in here, behaving yourselves as much as you can while you are waiting."

"Do you really think that you are going to Gryffindor, Sirius?" Severus asked the boy, trying as much as he could hide his trepidation.

"Of course I'm," Sirius answered with an arrogant smirk. "I'm better than my family and I'll show it to everyone! _Every Black is a Snake_ , will end with _me_."

Severus bit his lips, trying not to scowl at Sirius and his overly confidence, which Severus lacked. "Can you truly do that? If all your family was a Slytherin?" He asked again, just to make sure.

"Severus, even if you can't do it. I have my ways and I'll convince the hat that my heart and my personality doesn't fit into Slytherin." Sirius replied, still maintaining his smirk. "I'll just show them that I can do whatever I want, because I'm brave and stubborn as well... You'll see, Sev."

Lily, who was besides them scowled at Sirius like Severus was restraining to not do. "I think that you go to whatever house they think it's better for us, you just can't fight it."

"You too are doubting me? _You_ will see, Lily," Sirius said, smirking smugly at her.

"Children, please, form a line and follow me," Professor McGonagall said as soon as she returned to the room, her no-nonsense voice making everyone quietly form a line and follow her. When they finally entered the Great Hall, Severus could only gasp out aloud, all his limbs stopped moving.

"This is the most amazing thing that I have ever see in my life," Lily whispered and Severus could only nod in agreement.

"I read about the Great Hall in Hogwarts, A History… But my imagination could never match this." Severus confessed in a whisper.

Professor McGonagall commanded them to wait again, as she went we to grab something Severus did not expected at all, a four-legged stool with a pointed wizard's hat on top of it, putting it in front of the first years. The hat was old and ugly, but all the older students looked excitedly to it, making Severus and the others confused about it. For a few seconds, nothing happened.

"Is this a joke?" Sirius asked as if he was offended.

"I like jokes," James replied with a shrug, but looked confused at the hat too. Suddenly, the hat twitched and a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth, before it began to sing:

 **.o.**

"Look at me! Am I not pretty?

You could stare at my eyes…

But they are empty! (Don't see you I have none?)

So listen to my voice, And hear great things that I know!

 **.o.**

I can look inside your head,

I can look what your heart carries!

They think they know you,

But only I, know what you dread,

And why the tears shed.

 **.o.**

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

But let me tell, I'll know if you're tough!

 **.o.**

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means.

To achieve their ends.

But if it's wisdom that you seek,

go ahead to wise old Ravenclaw peeps!

 **.o.**

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

 **.o.**

" _Where dwell the brave at heart_ , see? That's totally me," Sirius shouted in Severus ear, as the loud clapping made impossible for him to be hear nothing lower.

Severus, in the other hand, payed much more attention to this part: _Or perhaps in Slytherin, you'll make your real friends. Those cunning folks use any means to achieve their ends._

"That's so lame! I thought something more exciting would happen in the sorting!" James complained in a whisper, not wanting anyone besides them to hear.

"I think it's brilliant." Severus said, even if the sorting hat spilled his secrets to everyone about his underage magic usage when he looked inside his head.

Professor McGonagall appeared with a long roll of parchment out of nowhere, before calling to their attention again. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said seriously before calling the first name.

It was rather simple process, Severus thought, sit on the stool, put the hat on and after a few moments the hat will shout your house.

When Sirius name was called, he looked at him with a smirk and said quickly before leaving their group to be sorted, "I'll show you that I can and you'll come to Gryffindor with us too."

Severus looked at his shoes, feeling even more nervous. But he didn't even have time to think a _Damn you, Sirius._ before the hat shouted _SLYTHERIN_ and Sirius soon followed with even more loud NO!, making everyone in the Great Hall stunned, the clapping being halted completely.

"Mr. Black, please leave the stool and go to your designed ta-"

"I'll not! I'm not a _Snake_!"

"Mr. Black, stay silent and go to your table!" Professor McGonagall reprimanded gravely.

"I demand that I'm to be sorted again! This blasted hat is dumb!"

"Respect me, you arrogant boy!" The hat shouted with clearly wrath in his voice. "Professor McGonagall, please, take me out of this kid's head!"

Sirius looked like he was going to protest, but Mrs. McGonagall quickly summoned the hat to herself. "Mr. Black, do not make a scene and go to your house's table."

Finally, Sirius complies to the request, seeing that no one would support him, and walks in angry, large steps. The slytherins who were clapping to his sorting all have stopped and looked at him with disgust. Sirius not minding the silent threatened at all, making a point to not look at no one at the table, turning his back.

Lily and James were sorted into Gryffindor and that only fuels Sirius rage, making his eyes a little frightening to stare at.

"SNAPE, SEVERUS!"

Severus gulped and rushed in direction of the stool, and as soon as he sat, Professor McGonagall put the hat on his head. And like in the other kids, the hat's flap covered all his face, obscuring his vision of the Great Hall. But it didn't matter, because something old and powerful connected with his magic just like the way Hogwarts did and all his being was elated by this pure and great magic.

"Interesting…" A distant voice said, making Severus frown. Where did it came from?

"Don't you where I'm, Severus?" The voice asked more loudly.

Something in Severus' mind clicked and he instantly knew from where the voice came from! He forced his mind to calm down and without thinking twice, he projected himself inside his mind palace, encountering none other than the sorting hat staring at the entrance door of his medieval palace.

"This is truly impressive," the hat said. "I've met students with some occlumency, but none was skilled and advanced as yourself… Who taught you, my boy?"

"I learned from a book." Severus felt himself saying honestly. He has talked and muttered to himself when he was in here, but the experience of actually talking with someone in here was living here a bit dazed.

"Wow! That's marvelous!" The hat said excitedly. "Care to show me what's inside your palace?"

"Can't you enter it?" Severus asked confused, but even so, he picked the hat from the green grass and opened the heavy oak door, entering the palace with the hat, who let squeak as it twitched in his arms.

"Of course I can't enter in here, my boy. This is the safe storage of your mind, everything that composes you and makes you yourself is inside here… No one can enter it if you don't let them! And let me tell you that I tried, but I couldn't open the door at all to see your memories and try to sort you," The hat explained with a calm voice. "Don't you know about this?"

"I don't," Severus confessed, still dazed, but paying attention to each word of the hat. He didn't know about this at all! "I made this place because I wanted to never forget the things that I learn..."

"Just for this I could send straight to Ravenclaw, my boy!" The hat while laughing. "To where these stairs lead?"

"The left wing is where my memories are, the right one is where I store books and pure knowledge." Severus said as he got closer to the stairs. "Do you want to see my memories that are inside of my rooms? That's how you will sort me?"

"About that…" The hat started saying with clear hesitation in his voice, even coughing a little like he was embarrassed. "Could you tell me where do you want to go? We don't actually have time to go through some of your emotions and memories."

"Seriously?" Severus asked startled.

"Hum… Yes. Do you want some advice or you already have some house in your mind?"

"No, thanks. I'd like to go to Slytherin then." Severus said.

"Slytherin?! Okay then," The hat said, before sighing a little. "Such a shame that I can't spend more time in here with you… Thank you for showing me here, though. It's much appreciated."

"You are welcome," Severus replied laughing nervously. What a crazy day!

"Drop me outside and we'll meet again when I leave your head." The hat instructed.

Severus, doing just what the hat said, left his mind to be greeted by the hat shouting "SLYTHERIN!" and professor McGonagall removing the hat from his head with a deep frown on her forehead. He paid it no mind and headed to the Slytherin table, where there were people clapping, even if none were showing the slightest of excitement for his sorting.

He sits in a vacant place that is exactly in front of Sirius. Severus smiles when he see the boy looking at him, but Sirius slowly turns his back to Severus, not acknowledging at all even when Severus gathers courage to call his name.

He called Sirius for a second time.

But he doesn't get a reply.

Severus felt his face heats with shame as he knew there were people looking at him right now. Slowly he looked down at the plate in front of him, and did not look up until the sorting was over and people hushed themselves when the voice of the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore filled the hall.

"Welcome, my dears," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! But before we eat our delicious food, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: _Crispy! Quirks! Ladders! Caramels!_ Thank you."

 _What?_ Severus thought surprised at the nonsense words and had to cover his mouth to hide his smile, because no one in the Slytherin table was laughing, they clapped, but it was only politely. He sighed, feeling tired all of sudden. Only cheering up a little when the food appeared and everyone started to eat. Sirius, turned in his seat to eat, but he did not look up in any moment. Ignoring not only the slytherins around him but Severus as well, making him feel a great disappointment in his heart.

As dinner progresses, Severus feels a lot of people staring at him, but no one talks or initiates any conversation at all. So he just eats his delicious meal, just as good as Dumbledore had make it sound, in silence When the desserts appeared, he felt another pair of eyes staring at him. This time he had the courage to look up, and found a blonde boy with blue eyes staring at him. He was maybe just a year older, and was seated at his right, in the opposite side of the table. The boy smiled charmingly at him and Severus couldn't stop the blush that appeared in his cheeks.

" _Hello_ ," the boy lip spoke, giving him another charming smile.

Severus could only nod a response in his flustered state. _Dear god, I need to learn how to communicate with people! It's so much easier to talk with adults than with other kids… It should the opposite. But here I'm, my dysfunctional self in communicating with people._

As everyone finished their dessert, Headmaster Dumbledore got up on his feet again and started to give a much more rational speech about the upcoming deadlines and announcements. At the end of his speech he announced that it was time to sing the school's song! He gave his wand a little flick and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune and let's sing," said Dumbledore excitedly. And the school bellowed: "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts…", making Severus ears hurt and his soul die a little inside. When the song finished, finally, Dumbledore gave everyone a good night, students and staff starting to chat or leave the Great Hall.

Sirius, who was laughing his butt off during the song, had his face morphed into a blank slate.

" _Sirius_?" Severus called for the third time, but the boy still didn't pay attention to him, instead he kept looking at an older boy who was speaking with the first years. A boy that Severus wasn't paying attention at all as still tried to talk to Sirius.

When the group started to leave the table, Severus was lost to what to do next. He saw himself standing there looking at the people passing by him, but no one seeming to care about him. If things are going to be like this… It's going to be very difficult and solitary seven years. He hopes at least that the library is big enough to have all the books he'll be reading for next years.

"Hey there, baby snake."

Severus looked up to see the same blonde boy as before approaching him. _Baby snake? Seriously?_ Severus glares at the damned boy, but apparently it wasn't enough to intimidate him, because he just laughed right at his face.

"Why are you still here?" The boy asked.

"I…" Severus tried to reply, but no good excuse came to his brain, making him look down at his hands and his hair hides his face.

Out of nowhere a hand touched his face and slowly put a lock of his black satin hair behind his ear. Severus looked up with flaming cheeks to see the blonde boy too close, ignoring any social common sense of personal space. Despite his embarrassment, he glared at the boy again and gave a step back to be out of reach.

"Come, I'll get you to the Slytherin common room even before the first year's group arrives," the boy said and got close to Severus again, this time going as far as placing his hand in Severus back. "I'll get you there, I promise."

Severus wanted to step back, but ended up tolerating the intimacy just because he was desperate to leave the Great Hall and sort his troubled emotions in the privacy of his dorm room… And couldn't get there by his own.

They walked in silence for few minutes, giving Severus the opportunity to look at the castle. He tried to hide his awe as he walked through to castle's corridors, just to keep a blank face to the other slytherin.

"Snape isn't a known pureblood family," the boy suddenly spoke, his voice carrying a disinterested tone.

"Because my family isn't a pureblood," Severus answered the unsaid question. He pondered a little before adding, "Only my mother is."

"A half-blood snake, then." The boy said appearing to be amused. "That's _unexpected_ … But that's quite alright, I always wanted a pet and you are pretty enough for me."

Severus feels his insides boil with rage.

"Get away from me!" Severus hissed before yanking himself away from the blonde, walking away from him.

"No, don't go away! I'm sorry! I'm only joking!" The boy shouted while trying to approach Severus again, but the younger boy started to walk faster. "Seriously! I was joking!"

"I don't care! Don't say stupid things like that!" Severus said angrily.

"Wait for me! You don't know where to go!"

"I don't care!"

"Seriously!"

Severus halted and waited for the boy, glaring at him furiously.

"Don't call me _pretty_ or _pet_ ever again." Severus threatened, standing for himself.

"Okay, I'll try- Sorry! Yes, okay."

By his wording, Severus knew that the boy was not serious, but as he had said, Severus doesn't really know how to get in Slytherin. So he just accepts the not apology with a grunt, making the boy smile at him like he smiled at the dining table: charming and malicious.

And for the second time that day, making Severus flustered and pink on his cheeks. Even while angry at the boy.

"Let's do it right this time," the blonde said with a chuckle. "I'm pleased to have met you, Severus Snape, my name is Evan Rosier."

* * *

… How was that? Did you guys like? This chapter was full of hard decisions for me and it was mainly because of this that the chapter was really late. Sirius sorting into gryffindor was always something that I thought that would happen, but with his and Severus talk before the sorting, I couldn't see the sorting hat thinking twice before placing him in Slytherin as soon as he touched Sirius' prideful and machinating little - big - head. Things just turned more complicated, didn't it? What do you guys think about it?


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for the people who left comments last chapter! You guys rock! s2 And sooooooo sorry for the wait! I did actually spend more than a month writing it because my laptop is dead, I only have my crap phone to write and real life with all its responsibilities suck... So bear with me, because my tiny tiny tiny phone is an instrument from hell. That's why updates will be slow for some time… But they will come! :)

So, about… British vocabulary: Well, I'm deeply sorry to say this to you (who asked for it), but I just can't compromise myself to do it. I'm still constantly looking at a translator! Can you imagine looking for the word in english and then search if it checks in british?! And if people said it in the 70's? It would just increase my workload with this fic, and between university and my jobs I can't stretch more time to do it… Maybe when I finish the fic I can actually start to look at this and do a big edit! :)

James/Lily pairing: James didn't have to antagonize with another person, who he saw as evil (Severus), for Lily attention and there were no " _obsession_ at the first sight". They are already acquaintances and I believe that by smoothing their first days together, things will be also _smooth_ when James eventually starts to _flirt_ with her… or not. Nothing is set on stone, guys!

Enjoy!

* * *

 **CHAPTER 7**

 **~o~**

"Let's do it right this time," the blond said with a chuckle. "I'm pleased to have met you, Severus Snape, my name is Evan Rosier."

Severus tried to not get angry at the blond's condescendent tone. "While I can't for the love of Merlin, say that I'm pleased to meet you," Severus said dryly.

Too bad that he couldn't feel as confident as his voice sounded right now. He was sweating and nervous as hell to say something like that to Rosier, a boy he just met, but he knew he had to show at least a little that he could stand for himself… Or his years in Hogwarts will be just as bad as his elementary school was.

"And if you have _finished_ , we can finally keep going..."

Upon hearing the impatient tone, Rosier out right laughed in Severus face, making him give Rosier the best scowling face he could make.

"It's decided then, I'll keep you." Rosier said still laughing, and looked at Severus the same way that Sirius did today, with mirth in his eyes. It was then, the only one reason why Severus didn't say anything else, because Rosier didn't appear to be making fun of him or being mean, he looked just amused. So Severus let it pass to not prolong things further.

"You did promise that you were going to get me to the Slytherin dorm, so if you were to be kind…" Severus insisted with a tired voice.

"Ok, little impatient snake. Let's go!" Rosier said and started to walk nonchalantly, like he owned the entire castle.

As they walked, Rosier gave a brief summary to Severus about what the Slytherin prefect was telling to the first years right now: where he could go, the cues and the best paths to not get lost and what to do in case he does. When they finally arrived at the Slytherin common room entrance, Severus had to agree that to a less observant person, there was nothing to distinguish the wall from the others! It made him realize that he need to store the information Rosier told him the best that he could.

They were talking about Slytherin politics when they entered the room, Rosier explaining what would be expected of him and what he could do as a firstie.

"You still haven't said in which year you are…"

"I'm in third year," Rosier answered Severus' question as they got further inside the common room. "But for a smart snake, only one year is enough to get to know how Slytherin works, believe me. You'll be fine if you pay attention to how the others interact and respect the ranking."

"If what you said is true, I doubt that by just observing I'll know everything about this _Slytherin politics_ …" Severus said, knowing that from his tone alone, he let slip his opinion about the _politics_. "It's interesting, though," he added.

"Yes, it is, believe me… It can be boring sometimes, but it's always interesting to play _the game_ ," Rosier said with a malicious smirk.

"One could say that Slytherin politics are _boring_ ," An older voice said, making Severus jump a little as whoever said it appeared out of nowhere right beside him.

He looked up to see a platinum blond with pale blue eyes staring him down, the boy was tall and handsome, but the cold aura surrounding him made Severus a little frightened by him.

"Good night," Severus greeted politely, after he observed that the boy was a prefect, almost stuttering the simple words as he felt the scrutinizing cold eyes still on him.

"Are you doing charity now, Rosier? Helping lost little children?"

"Well, I was _bored_ ," Rosier said with an aloof tone of voice with a sigh, looking and sounding completely different than he was seconds ago with Severus, more formal and polite. "I saw little Snape here looking lost so I acted as a reasonable house mate would... House unity is always _encouraged_ , as you know."

The almost daring tone of Rosier voice probably left a bad taste in the blond's mouth, because his face contorted into a disgusted expression. "Rutherlufus should have paid more attention then," he said.

"Well, at least this year will be last one Slytherin will have to tolerate his mistakes," Rosier said in return, receiving only a nod in acknowledgement. When the other boy started to walk past them in the direction of the door, Rosier called him, making the prefect stop to look back at them. "Malfoy, can one first year see his room before the others arrive?" Rosier asked.

"He may," the blond replied after a consideration pause and started to walk again.

After receiving the permission from the prefect, Rosier motioned to Severus to follow him before turning his back to Severus and starting to walk away from him.

Severus, who was distracting himself from the blond to finally pay attention to his surrounds, lingered in the common room admiring the dark and elegant style and aura of the beautiful room. He almost lost sight of Rosier before he sprang to follow the boy, entering a poorly illuminated corridor. They walked in silence for a couple of minutes before they finally arrived at his supposedly dorm's door.

"See this? This is the initials of each person who sleeps in here." Rosier explained, making Severus look at a little black tag besides a torch and saw the golden initials of the three people who lived in the room:

 _O. F. M._

 _S. O. B._

 _S. T. S._

Without hesitation, Rosier grabbed Severus hand and put on the door's knob and opened the door.

"What was that for?" Severus complained.

"Only the dorm's residents can open their rooms, it's just a precaution." Rosier explained, he entered the room and switched on the lights, illuminating the most charming room that Severus ever expected to live in. Well, _charming_ in his opinion after all… The walls were made of stone and the dark wooden floor shone prettily with its polish. The beds, study desks, chairs, nightstands, armories… All of the furniture were the same dark wood, not quite as dark as the floor's wood, but it contrasted nicely with the Slytherin green that were everywhere.

"It's a beautiful room," Severus said dreamily, not caring to hide how much he was impressed by it. "It's much more furnished and bigger than I thought it would be for only three people by room..."

"It's because we Slytherins don't accept nothing but the best, Severus." Rosier said showing the pride and the arrogance of the Slytherins in first hand. "This will be your room for the next seven years, keep it mind and choose which bed you want. The trunks are put randomly in the beds, so if you don't want the one your trunk is, you can change it now."

Severus nodded and went to search for his old trunk, finding it in the bed in the right side of the room. On top of his trunk, sleeping in a magical induced sleep was Smokey, laying inside his makeshift cage that once was only his bed. Smokey would be fine for a few more hours, but Severus would wake him up and feed him before going to sleep.

Focusing on the bed again, Severus analyzed his options. He liked this bed, because by its position and being far from the door, if you close its privacy curtains, you could obtain a good private space between the wall and the bed that no one who wasn't directly in front of it would see. The left side of the room while still had the some private space, it is where the bathroom door is, so the idea of privacy is ruined every time someone went to the bathroom.

"No, I don't want to change it... I like this bed." Severus said after his pondering.

"If that's the one, tap your wand in the footboard or headboard and it'll be yours by the next seven years… If you are to live until then." Rosier instructed a small smirk in Severus' direction.

Severus, not minding the ever present smirk and the words, did as Rosier told him and tapped his wand in the footboard of the bed. Immediately he felt a strange pulse of magic touching his own magic before his initials appeared in a soft glow on the footboard, fading just as softly, leaving the three letters carved in the wood.

"Ok, let's go back to the common room, they should be arriving any minute now," Rosier said and walked to the door, expecting again to Severus follow him, which Severus did faster than before as he didn't linger to keep admiring his new room.

Severus and Rosier arrived at the common room quickly, but the first year group were already there. He counted a total of seven boys and four girls, not minding the three prefect couples. It would've been seven first year boys if Severus had accompanied the group.

"... and the password will change each week by the end of Sunday's dinner. If you are inside the common room and forgot the password you have to tap the empty portrait besides the door and the password will appear. If you forget the password outside of the dungeons, good luck at getting back inside." The prefect said with a malicious smirk that put Rosier's malicious smirk to shame, in Severus opinion. The prefect smirk was just that terrifying.

"Looks like the Rebellious Snake arrived at the pit." Rosier said looking at Severus, but his voice was intentionally too loud in the silent common room after the prefect's speech, making all the first years turn their heads to look at the two of them. Two of the prefects silently sneered at him, but the other four just ignored him.

Fortunately for Severus, Sirius did not rise to the bait and didn't spare a glance at Rosier, thus not seeing Severus beside his likely future enemy. Before it could eventually happen, Severus distanced from Rosier and went to join the first years, while the blond boy went to sit in one of the armchairs.

"As Headmaster Dumbledore announced, everyone will receive their timetables at 7:30 tomorrow. Don't embarrass yourself and your house by arriving late in your first day. Outside of these walls, your actions will reflect on others. Remember this: we're stronger when accompanied. Therefore if you see your house mate in need, you'll assist them. However, when inside the privacy of our house, you'll be hold accountable for your mistakes and wrongdoings to the Slytherin honor and values." Malfoy said with his cold eyes staring down the other first years, like he was silently judging each one.

 _He probably is_ , Severus thought feeling lucky because he had already being judged by the blond and probably deemed ordinary enough to be ignored by him.

The prefect that Severus assumed to be Rutherlufus started to talk again, but was soon interrupted by the the appearance of a man that Severus assumed was a professor. The prefects greeted the professor politely, but the man, who was sweating profusely, gave only a strained smile to them.

"Hello, my dear students," the professor greeted as he stood beside Malfoy, placing a hand of the blond's shoulder. "Welcome to the Slytherin house! I'm Potions Master Horace Slughorn, potions professor and your head of house, I'll be here for all of you until your Hogwart's journey ends. For everything you may need, you can always count with me! Not that I believe that any of you'll actually ask for my help in everything during your stay in here... Ordinary people can't understand what truly means being a Slytherin, they take us for arrogant and petty prideful people, but don't be too harsh on them, my new snakes. They just can't understand the real power behind our cunning, our ambitions and our esteem for independence.

We're capable of everything, _you_ are capable of everything. Being a Slytherin, only shows the world that you have no qualms in fighting for the glory and your dreams! I expect you to exceed academically and professionally once you leave Hogwarts, I expect only the best coming from all of you. Do not disappoint me, my dears. And with this, I end my brief speech to you. I expect everyone on time tomorrow morning. Rest and have a good night of sleep."

Just as he entered, Professor Slughorn quickly departed, leaving people a little too disoriented by the sudden overflow of information thrown at them.

"Well, that was _brief_." A female prefect commented sarcastically.

"He didn't even talk about his club..." Another prefect said.

"We can only ask for small favors from Merlin," Malfoy said dryly and turned his attention again to the group. "We're going to show your rooms now. However, before we go, you must know that there are simple rules that everyone is expected to abide: there are two corridors for males and two for females; you don't choose your room, but you can choose your bed; you can't enter another person room; boys can't enter the girl's corridors, but the girls can enter boy's corridor; there is a potions lab in here and the older years will always have priority over using it..."

The list of things went on for a couple of minutes, and after having finished, Malfoy said his goodbye and four other prefects assumed the lead. Each one of the prefects had a parchment with the first year names on it, they explained that each prefect will lead a group of people to their designated rooms.

Severus was ready to follow his group leader when Rosier called him from where he was seated in one of the armchairs. Severus hesitated for a minute, but decided to go to hear what Rosier wanted. Once again not joining his year group.

Although this time he was actually trying to avoid meeting Sirius in their dorm, but nobody needed to know that...

"What now, Rosier?" Severus asked and went to sit in the nearest sofa after Rosier inviting him to sit.

"What's the deal between you and the Black heir?" Rosier asked straight out, not dancing around with words much to Severus surprise.

Severus sighed tiredly and got comfortable in the comfy sofa.

"We met yesterday and we spent the train ride together," Severus started explaining with a tired voice, being honest to the boy just because he thought that lying wouldn't get nowhere. "He wanted to go to Gryffindor, he was sure he could get in... But as your saw in the Great Hall, he's not happy about it at all that he got sorted to Slytherin. He apparently turned his rage towards me, because he won't talk to me at all, not even acknowledging me!"

Rosier hummed, "Well, it's understandable that he's mad about not having what he wanted... Everyone knows about the Black's family temperament and it's not pretty, let me tell you."

Severus snorted humorless, feeling his eyes water a little. He had really believed that he could actually build his first friendship… He didn't know about James, but he hoped that the boy wouldn't stop talking with him too.

"He's just throwing a tantrum," Rosier said dismissively, giving Severus a smirk. "He'll come around with his tail between his legs, you'll see… Let it go for now."

Severus gave him a small smile, and tried to follow the advice and let himself _let go_ of his depressing thoughts. After some consideration, he looked at Rosier again to voice his thank you, but then the common room door was opened and dozens of students of all years entered, making the room completely packed in seconds with the sudden appearance.

A brunette boy sat besides Severus, giving him only an acknowledgement nod before turning his head to talk to Rosier. They exchange small talk for a moment though, before Rosier introduced Severus to the boy.

"Nice to meet you, Lestrange," Severus replied shyly, giving an equally shy smile to the handsome boy sitting beside him.

"Half-blood?" Lestrange asked Rosier with an arched eyebrow and a mild sneer on his lips.

 _That goes our friendship… Lasted three seconds,_ Severus thought as he tried to keep his mood from souring. _He's not even that handsome._

"Yes, I'm half-blood." Severus stated as calm as he could manage.

Lestrange kept looking at Rosier, ignoring Severus answer. "And you are talking with the half-blood... _Why_?"

"I like the kid," Rosier said shrugging, but showing his amusement with a smile. "Besides, the sorting hat saw him worth being a Slytherin having only a pureblood mother and a muggleborn father… I'm giving him a chance."

Lestrange snorted before turning to look at Severus."What is your mother's name, kid?" He asked briskly.

Severus rolled his eyes. "What's the name of your house-elf? Your brother's? Does it matters to me? _No._ So my mother's name shouldn't matter to you too." Severus replied with a sarcastic voice. "And I'm not a _kid._ Stop calling me that… Both of you."

Rosier laughed, "See? That's why I like him."

Severus made a face at that, but his cheeks were blushing scarlet. Count on Rosier to make him blush three times in a single day! And by the smirk that the blond was giving him, Severus knew that Rosier was aware of what he was doing with him. Severus glared at the boy.

"You are just ridiculous, Rosier, and I not believe you at all," Lestrange replied after sneering at the blond, ignoring the weird silent communication the two other boys were having.

"Whatever… And you need to pull your wand out of where it's sticked," Rosier deadpanned.

Like magic, Lestrange lost his uptight posture. But instead of scowling or retorting, he looked at Rosier with a sly smirk on his face.

"Too bad we're fighting, then. Because I'll have to eat the tarts alone now… _All by myself_ ," He said with a bored voice and topped his act with a tired sigh.

He probably got the reaction he wanted, Severus supposed, because Rosier reacted immediately with horrified face. " _You wouldn't_ …"

"Welcome to Slytherin," Lestrange said sarcastically.

"We are not fighting… Come on, Rabastan!" Rosier pleaded with a pouting face.

"Don't pout, it's unbecoming." Lestrange patronized with a sly smile.

To Severus dismay, Rosier only stopped pouting when Lestrange pulled out a small white cloth from his pocket, then his eyes started to glee like a three old child! Curious by Rosier behaviour, Severus paid attention to Lestrange and saw the moment when the slytherin touched his wand on the cloth and enlarged it. He then unwrapped the cloth and revealed two delicious looking peach tarts.

Lestrange gave one to Rosier and looked to Severus with a neutral expression on his face.

"I only have two tarts, kid. If I had more I would give you one…"

 _Yes, I totally believe in you_ , Severus snorted mentally.

Rosier looked guiltily at his tart before looking at Severus, "I only have one… Do you want a _bite_?" The slightly crazy boy asked demurely.

Severus burst laughing right in Rosier pitiful face. He tried to contain it, but couldn't control the giggles. "Sorry," he said, biting his lips to at least stop smiling.

"So funny, little snake… So funny…" Rosier complained, once again pouting.

An idea come to Severus mind and before he could stop to actually think about the consequences of saying it like he had with James and Sirius, he was already telling Rosier.

"I could double the tart for you if you want."

Rosier blurted a "Really?!" while Lestrange only gave him an arched eyebrow.

Severus bit his bottom lip already regretting it, but he nodded to Rosier nonetheless.

"Could you give me the cloth, Lestrange?" Severus asked and Lestrange almost unwilling gave him the white cloth.

Concentrating, Severus first transfigurated the cloth into a white bowl. He noticed that it didn't have the texture of ceramic like he expected, it looked like it's still made of cotton, but hard and in a form of a bowl… Well, he couldn't have everything. Not minding his poor transfiguration, he looked to Rosier and asked for the tart.

Rosier had an uncertain expression on his face, but Severus ignored it and went to grab the tart. After putting it in the middle of the bowl, he cast a food preservation spell he learned recently, an enhanced variation of the stasis charm for potions, and then he cast the doubling curse on the tart.

Slowly, mindful that there were two pair of eyes observing him, he put his wand away and went to grab a tart. As he grabbed it, a new tart was left in its place.

Seeing the results, Rosier pulled the bowl out of Severus's hand and got a tart of his own, eating it with wide eyes and no hesitation whatsoever.

"This is awesome!" Rosier said before going to grab another tart after inhaling the first.

"Is it safe to eat?" Lestrange asked doubtful.

"It is," Severus answered encouraging Lestrange to get one too and when he did it and proved the tart, he went from suspicious to fully impressed. Severus then explained a little to him. "The doubling charm can be used on food. And from the book that I read, with the preservation spell I cast, you can keep eating for a good six months… So it's safe."

"And if you cast a finite on it?" Rosier asked and went for a third tart.

"It'll finite the preservation spell, but not the doubling charm. You can only stop it by destroying the tart…"

"Can I have one too?" A new voice asked, making Severus turn his head to look at the newcomer. "Lady Lestrange's tarts are delicious, but Rabastan is a selfish prick."

"If you give one to Wilkes, I want one too." A second new voice said behind Severus, making the new slytherin jump a little in his seat. Startled, he looked at the new boy noticing that he was accompanied by other three boys. With trepidation he looked from the new boys to the other people around them in the common room, noticing that some of them were paying attention openly and discreetly to his group. He was so absorbed that he didn't realize that there were people staring!

 _I knew that I shouldn't have done anything…_ Severus thought feeling regret for his impulsiveness, afraid of the consequences of people knowing of his underage practicing. Hopefully, no one would snitch him to the a professor about him knowing advanced spells...

While he was distracted, Rosier and Rabastan yearmates started to come to get a tart. Slytherin they might be, but free food would never be ignored. Severus lost track of how many people came after the seventh one!

"Well, at least his mother was doing a good job in teaching him," Rosier said with a smug face at Rabastan, making Severus roll his eyes at both of them. He didn't like the looks he was receiving at all... Most of Rosier friends were like Rabastan in their views of blood purity and openly sneered at him even after taking one of the tart _he_ charmed, but the other half were cool and talked with him like they were honestly interested.

An hour later Severus was already too tired, but the others were looking like they could spend hours talking! With an idea in his mind, _not a bad idea this time_ , he feigned a big yawn before getting up from his seat, giving a polite good night to no one in general before walking - running politely - to his dorm room.

He exhaled the breath he was holding when he finally closed the door of his dorm and was greeted by a sweet silence...

And a pair of grey eyes.

Sirius was seated on his bed, going through his open trunk.

"Hey, Sirius," Severus greeted friendly, but looked away quickly at his other roommate who was unpacking his things and had looked up when he saw Severus entering their dorm. The boy had short and straight black hair, completely different from the Severus' long and wavy pitch black, hazel eyes and a straight nose in an oval face. "Hi, my name is Severus Snape, but you can call me Severus with you want… And nice to meet you."

"Hello," the boy replied quietly and waved his hand. "Mine name is Oberon Mulciber and you can call me by either… I don't actually have a preference."

"Oberon then," Severus said with a small smile.

"Why you weren't with us when we left the Great Hall? I saw you when you were sorted, but you didn't follow our group," Oberon asked curious.

"I actually got lost," Severus replied. "But a third year helped me to come here. Thank Merlin!"

"Cool," Oberon said and then went back at his unpacking without much care to properly end their talk.

 _Cool_ , Severus thought feeling awkward and went to his own bed to unpack his things. First thing he did was cast a privacy wards in his corner of the room, letting his magic extend until it enveloped his bed and touched the walls to finally cast an _Ennervate_ on poor Sneaky, waking the fluffy cat.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Lord Sneaky." He joked as the cat studied the new place, probably curious as to how he arrived here without knowing.

Leaving Sneaky to his own to explore, Severus started to unpack his own things with magic's help. Finishing everything in less than ten minutes and in less than twenty he was already to fall asleep.

 _It's going to be great, Sneaky. I'll learn new things, I'll make friends… Just wait._ Severus whispered to his cat, cuddling with him until they both were asleep.

 **~o~**

Waking up in Hogwarts was one of the most strange things that Severus had experienced so far. Not a bad thing, not at all, but the feeling of the whole castle waking up and then waking you in the process is nothing but strange.

Severus looked at the charmed windows of the room and realized that the sun still hadn't come out and still was pretty dark outside, but he could feel the tendrils of Hogwarts' magic being less dormant as they were at the night before. Who knew that sentient castles also sleep at night? Well, maybe it could something else too… Like if the magic of the room is connected to their residents and when someone wakes up, they stirs their collective magic...?

Severus couldn't care less about magic theories in this moment, though.

He just wants to go back to sleep, thank you very much.

 **~o~**

When Severus finally woke up in that morning, both of his roommates were still sleeping. After checking the time, he went to the bathroom to take a warm shower to get himself more relaxed and waken. He enjoyed the silence of the morning until he was interrupted by Mulciber. He greeted the boy and went back to his task of combing his spelled dry hair, enjoying the soft feel after having cleaned it.

"Do you know what time is it? I still haven't found my clock…" Oberon asked as he entered the shower stall and closed its door.

Severus took his wand from the pocket of his school robes and checked the hour again.

"It's 7:05," Severus said. He looked over the shower stall and hesitated a little before asking, "As I'm already ready to go, could you wake Black after you finish your shower?"

"You mean if I can _try_ to wake him?" Mulciber replied came muffled by the shower. "I tried before coming here and he didn't even stopped snoring!"

"Good luck then," Severus said chuckling and hurried out of the bathroom. Even with the bathroom having stalls, the notion of being in the same bathroom that someone is already showering is uncomfortable for him.

He packed all of his books in his leather bag, making use of the two most practical charms he had studied: expansion and feather weight.

"Do you want to walk or you want a ride?" Severus asked Sneaky, who mewled and jumped on Severus from the bed, climbing his robe until he was laying comfortably on the slytherin's shoulder. "Great thing you are light weight, my shoulder would fall off if I had to carry you like this."

Sneaky gave him an angry meow.

"Sorry, sorry…"

With a last look at Sirius' bed, he goes to the common room, finding Rosier already there chatting with the people he came to know as Rosier's yearmates. He then ended up going with them to the Great Hall to eat his breakfast and receive his timetable from Slugborn.

"Can I bring my cat to class or I have to leave him on my dorm?" Severus asked Rosier, who was sitting beside him.

"You can, but if it gives trouble more than three times the teacher can expulses the pet from the class and it'll always be forbidden to enter that classroom again." Rosier explained. "People just let them be during classes, hanging in the common room or in a room with other pets…"

"I'll see what I'm going to do with Sneaky… If he doesn't give me trouble I'll keep bringing him to class." Severus said and wanted add 'If he wants', because he knew he couldn't control his cat in any way...

"You are lucky that your herbology class is before lunch," Rosier commented when he peeked at Severus' timetable.

"Why?" Severus asked curious.

"Because you'll have time to change your clothes and have a quick shower. Herbology classes are always messy…"

"But if you like the class you'll not mind all the dirt," Emma prompted.

"I like hanging out with trees and plants," Severus said smiling at the girl. He had met her yesterday and she seemed cool to talk with even if yesterday he was freaking out about people snitching him to professors.

"Hanging out with _trees?_ Wow, what a _busy_ life you lead _,"_ Rosier said sarcastically.

Severus closed his mouth before saying something that he would regret. He distracted himself by giving Sneaky another sausage from where he was laying on Severus shoes.

"But what exactly entails 'hanging out with a tree'?" Emma asked, looking honestly curious.

Severus blushed at that. "Forget what I said! What I meant is that I like to go to the park and I enjoy being there… That's it."

"Yes, like I'm going to believe it now…" Rosier said with a smirk.

"It brings the say 'nature lover' to a new level," Rabastan said making the people around them laugh. The boy was four seats far from Severus and he was paying attention to Severus was saying and making fun of him! The prat!

"I'll remind myself to never sit near any of you again," Severus said and started to ignore Rosier even though the blond said he was sorry. When Rabastan made fun of Rosier because of that and made people laugh again, Severus had to hide his smirk.

In honest truth, he was having the funniest breakfast of his life! Even if he was sitting with the third years and not actually interacting with his peers, he was enjoying having a conversation with people who had actually something to say and not only mindless chat like the kids from his old school.

When the third years went to their classes, Severus searched for Mulciber and found him talking with another first year that Severus recognized from yesterday.

"Hi," Severus greeted the boy and went to sit close to him, placing Sneaky on his lap.

"Hello, Severus," Mulciber replied and motioned to the boy sitting in front of him. "This is Amycus Carrow. Carrow, this Severus Snape."

"Nice to meet you," Severus greeted with wave of his hand, which Carrow answered with one of his own.

"I think that it's a good idea," Carrow said looking back at Mulciber.

"Well, it can't hurt to ask…" Mulciber replied shrugging before looking at Severus. "Did you talk with a prefect yesterday?"

Severus frowned at the question, but he replied it anyway, "Kind of? I talked with one, but he didn't reply me…"

"Do you know who it was?" Mulciber asked.

"It was Malfoy," Severus said and then asked, "Why?"

"We want to go the library and a prefect would probably help us…" Carrow explained. "Let's ask Malfoy, he's the only one who's still here."

" _You_ ask Malfoy, because I won't!" Severus protested before whispering to Mulciber, "He's scary."

In the end, Severus was the only one who talked with Malfoy, receiving the same cold glare from yesterday, but the blond prefect did explained in detail how they could get in the library. The three boys took off and fortunately found the library without difficulties and started to explore the place until it was time to go to their first class.

Herbology, their first class, shared with Hufflepuff was mostly theory, hardly touching anything in the greenhouse. But they were still walking around in the dirt and even Severus left the greenhouse feeling energized, he still felt a little dirty too. He cleaned his shoes and robes right after leaving not thinking if there were people watching, which obviously there were and he was forced to teach the cleaning spell at least to ten different people.

He did not mind though, he was after all a curious child as well. And if people wanted to learn something he would happily help them. One that he did realize is that, the other kids would not tell on him, they always assumed it was his mother who taught him.

Some of the hufflepuffs who saw him teaching his house mates, also asked him to teach them. But they were extremely shy with him, asking him to teach them the spell only after all the slytherins were taught. When he did it, they were all smiling and saying endless thank yous to him.

Thank God he had cast a Notice-Me-Not on Sneaky before coming to class… He probably would have the Puffs cooing at his fluffy cat, who was happily playing in the grass near Severus.

"Keep that up and you'll have the hufflepuffs eating in the palm of your hand," Carrow said with a smirk when they started to walk to the Great Hall.

"I didn't teach them because I wanted favours, Carrow," Severus said trying not to sound offended. He's aware that Carrow is a strong pureblood line and he was made aware of the Slytherin politics, so he doesn't want and won't to be seen as weak. "I taught them just because it's useful and it's a shame that their parents didn't teach them."

 _Look at me_ , Severus thought feeling amused. _I'm a wicked liar!_

"When you have house-elves it's hardly that useful," Mulciber said as they entered the Great Hall to have lunch.

"Well, yes, but we don't have house-elves in Hogwarts… Do we?" Talkalot said, her voice daring Mulciber or Carrow to say something else.

Severus had also taught her the spell, so she was probably just trying to keep her slytherin pureblood pride...

Arriving at the Slytherin table, Severus saw Sirius already sitting there looking at his plate and not talking with anyone.

 _I want to slap him and then take him out of his blue! But he won't talk with me!_ Severus thought feeling frustrated. _The brat! I need to talk with James… Will James still talk with me? Or Lily? Well, as I'll have potion with them today. I'll try to talk with them… Hope they talk with me._

 **~o~**

After having lunch, Severus decided to leave Sneaky on the common room with two other cats. He put Sneaky's pillow with some toys and some food and water in a corner and went back to the Great Hall to meet with his classmates to go the Potions class.

When he entered the classroom, he didn't have to search for Lily or James. It was impossible to not notice the vibrant red hair sitting in the front, talking with another Gryffindor girl.

"Hi, Lily" Severus greeted cautiously the girl, testing the waters to see if she would still talk with him.

"Severus! Nice to see you," Lily said smiling. "Are you excited about this class?"

"Definitely!" Severus replied grinning at her as he sat beside her. "I loved Herbology and I have a feeling that I'll love this class too."

 _Well, I did read five books about potions… I can say that I' already love this class,_ Severus thought amused but didn't share his bookworm habits.

After being introduced to the girl Lily was talking, Alice Fortescue, they talked about the first chapters of the textbook until James arrived along with another gryffindor boy and they sat behind Lily.

Severus looked at James and gave the boy a smile, which the gryffindor returned with a strained one, immediately making Severus feel nervous about it. Did it mean that he lost James?

"Hello," Lily greeted James with smile and looked at the other the boy sitting beside James. "Your name is Remus, right?"

"Yes," the boy replied. "Good morning, Lily."

"Good morning," Lily said and gestured towards Severus. "You already know Alice, so this is Severus Snape, we talked with each other only yesterday, but we studied in the same elementary school!"

"Hi, Severus," Remus said and went to shake Severus hand. "That must be cool having someone you know coming to Hogwarts with you…"

"Yes," Severus lied, because really, he didn't know Lily at all before the train ride. Yes, they were from the same school, but their similarities ended there. She had always being part of the cool kids group, who despise the sight of poor and dirt Severus… "But James has it better… His cousin is studying here too, they have lots of fun together!"

"I didn't know that… Who's your cousin James?" Remus asked.

 _Subject changed successful_ ly, Severus thought.

"It's Sirius Black," James replied. "He ended being sorted to Slytherin even if he wanted to be a lion like me…"

"Tough," Remus said with sympathy. "But if you are cousins, there's no problem if you're in another house… Severus is from Slytherin too and we can be friends, right?"

"Absolutely," Severus said before James could reply, making both Remus and Lily smile at him.

"Look, Sirius arrived!" Lily said suddenly, making all five of them to look at the Black heir.

"Sirius!" James called and waved his hand, trying to get his cousin's attention. One that he did not receive at all, because Sirius didn't reply and didn't even look at James direction. He simply changed direction and went to sit in the last row in the opposite side of theirs.

 _He's not talking with James too, so his problem is not_ _ **me**_ _. He's just hurt that he couldn't get in Gryffindor as Rosier predicted,_ Severus thought not feeling the relief that he thought he would.

"Sirius!" James called, but this time with an angry tone in his voice. "What the hell is his problem?" He asked looking at Severus. "Did he say anything about me to you?"

"No," Severus confessed. "He's not talking with me since yesterday after the sorting."

"Are you serious? What is his problem?" Lily asked shocked. But her voice was low, probably not wanting Sirius to hear.

"I think he's ashamed," Severus whispered and looked at James. "Don't you think?"

"Yes," James said with a frown. "But we must talk with him! I won't let that dunderhead thinking he can't stop talking with me because of that!"

"We must convince that we don't care that he's Slytherin," Severus explained to James. "For the short amount of time that I know him, I know you guys are very prideful…"

"Unfortunately," James said with a sigh. "We have to corner him, though… He'll not talk with us willing."

"That's a plan, then," Severus said smirking.

"That's a plan."

* * *

So how was the chapter? Any thoughts? I struggled so much to write this last part! Seriously, more than a month was spent only on this!

Oh, and I need you guys to help me in this. Let's make a poll of some sort.

1\. Do you want Remus to be a close friend of severus, sirius and james? If yes, do you want Severus to become an animagus?

2\. Do you want to make Sirius suffer to get in Severus good graces? Or our Sev will open his arms after Sirius saying he's sorry?

Waiting for you guys opinions! See y'all soon! (Hopefully)


	8. Chapter 8

Hello my dear friends! Here I'm a month and some days later to finally finally upload this chapter. I'm on my last days of classes studying like a beeetch for my finals so excuse me if I failed to correct spelling mistakes, my eyes hurt! But the good thing is that next update will be a lot faster! Yaay! Well, if the other fanfic that I started writing let me. D: I got this idea for a Tom/Severus/Harry fanfic that won't leave my mind! I think I'll write a chapter or three to see if it's good enough to share with you guys.. Anyway...

Thank you so much for **57Dragonion**! She helped me so much to correct last chapter mistakes! s2 And many many hugs and kisses for the people who commented last chapter sharing their opinion with me! s2 **JuliSt, biancaruth, haruhichan123, t42n24t2, usuihentai727, Dorianimeyaoilover, tigerlily124 , ahuvati, sachaelle, bkaddictjk** and two guests! s2 You guys are amazing and I'll let you know that I'm holding your opinions! I just need to figure now Severus animagus form!

Hope you like this chapter!

* * *

 **CHAPTER EIGHT**

 **.o.**

Professor Slughorn quietly entered the classroom, but he carried himself with pomp, as if he owned Hogwarts and everything in it. Including the classroom where Severus Snape was patiently waiting for the professor's arrival to start his **first** class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Slughorn was visibly different than he was yesterday, less twitchy and sweaty, more calm and concentrated as he looked at every single student in his class.

"Welcome to your first Potions class," he said with a firm but enthralling tone of voice. "The path to become a great potioneer can start today for you. As any other skill, Potions will be hard to master and it _is_ one of the hardest. But you _can_ , if you dedicate your attention to the exquisite art of Potions making. You can learn to bottle glory, fame, luck, _love_ … As a Master, you can follow try to discover the secret to eternal youth or the eternal life. Nothing will be impossible for you and you will be remembered for the rest of eternity."

Severus squeaked.

Inwardly, of course, but he squeaked nonetheless. He wanted so much to brew his first potion! And create new potions!

"Did he just say _love_?" Lucinda Talkalot asked Severus in a whisper, making him look at the girl who was sitting beside him. "Love potions are illegal! I heard that a witch was arrested last year because of one!"

Severus looked at Professor Slughorn, who was now reading a scroll, before answering the Slytherin girl he had just met.

"They are, but we'll learn how to brew one," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes," he answered, nodding his head. "I read in a book that we learn how to brew one so we can recognize it when you see one."

Lucinda opened her mouth at the same time that Professor Slughorn started to talk again, making her close it and pay attention to their teacher.

"Today's class we'll start to learn about our brewing equipment and how to use it. By the end of this class, you will know the name of all the basic tools that we'll use this year. I will stop by each table and everyone will be required to name one tool and explain to me how it's used," Slughorn said and with a wave of his wand the entire potion's kit appeared on top of their tables, making a lot of students gasp, startled. "Fortunately, we're in a even number so we can start right away. Partner with your colleague beside you."

Severus couldn't stop a smile from appearing, he looked at his left and shared his excitement with his Gryffindor friends, Lily smiled brightly at him and James gave him a knowing smirk, while Remus shyly gave him a smile too.

Slughorn made them order the items on the table, by alphabetical order placing from left to right, and patiently explained each item, showing how to hold and how to use. After each explanation, they were to write their own briefly on a parchment.

Severus already knew some of the things that Slughorn was explaining, but he kept his ear open to explanations as he tried to handle his knife. He knew that there were many different techniques for dicing, mincing, slicing… If Slughorn happened to not go in details about it, he would have to search on his own, because he refused to do something mediocrely if he knew that there was better way of doing it.

At the end, Severus and Lucinda were one of the first students to explain their chosen tools, but instead of being dismissed, they were left to wait for the rest of the class. Severus sat quietly on his stool to read his potions book while Lucinda fidgeted in her seat chatting about quidditch and the new broom to a Slytherin boy behind them that Severus didn't know yet.

After everyone having finished, Slughorn announced that they would study brew a simple potion to cure boils next class and that everyone should study it before the next class. When Slughorn finally dismissed them, Severus said goodbye to Lucinda before going to talk with James.

"Did you see him? He literally flew from his seat!" James said glaring at the door's direction.

"I saw…" Severus replied with a tired sigh, he looked at the other before asking, "Let's get going?

Severus and the other four Gryffindors left the classroom in a comfortable silence.

"Where to go now?" Lily asked.

"We could explore the castle..." Severus suggested with a smile, making Remus and James beam at him. Remus again being a lot shyer than James carefree excitement.

"You read my thoughts!" James said grinning.

"Or we could go find everyone to chat and rest a little," Alice said. "Then we could go to walk on the bridge."

"We can talk and rest later… I want to know every corner of Hogwarts." James said dismissing Alice's idea.

Lily looked from Alice to the boys, grimacing a little before giving them a small smile. She looked back at Alice and agreed with the girl's plan. "I'm kind of tired too, so let's go with the other girls. We still have a long time to the Astronomy class."

Alice promptly agreed and she and Lily said goodbye to the remained boys, taking off to get closer to the group of girls who were walking ahead of them.

"Shouldn't we wait for Sirius to go exploring the castle together?" Remus asked with an uncertain voice.

James pondered a little before nodding his head while his shoulders sagged as he said, "I swear to Merlin, Sirius doesn't have a brain he has Hippogriff's dung inside his big head! I wanted to start exploring today!"

"Well, we kind of have seven years for that." Remus reasoned with a small smirk, making James huff.

"And there's the fact that Hogwarts is huge, so we're good." Severus said with a shrug. "But it wouldn't hurt if we went to a walk to find Sirius… If only he stops running from us and hiding Merlin knows where."

"That's why I said we need to corner him," James answered. "After a class of before one where he can't outrun us!"

"That makes sense," Severus agreed, shrugging. He looked around the corridor they were walking, and easily spotted Mulciber and Carrow walking a little ahead of Severus' small group. He was interested in talking and spending time with them too, but he figured he could do it later before Astronomy.

"How much do we have before dinner?" Remus asked. "I didn't bring a clock with me…"

"No need for a clock if we are wizards, Remus," Severus said before casting a _Tempus_ to check the hour, the bright numbers showing that they had a little less than an hour before dinner being served. When he looked back at the two other boys, he found a pair of curious faces looking at him almost expectantly. He knew just there that he would have to teach them the spell too. He couldn't judge them though, actually he could not judge anyone who wanted to learn spells, even if they spend quite a while of his time to learn to perform it like the Hufflepuffs from yesterday.

The three of them ended sitting in the nearest bench that they found and Severus taught them three useful spells that he liked. The _Tempus_ and two charms which had opposite purposes, the _Caterconsopio_ to play a sweet lullaby that makes a person falls asleep and the _Catersopio Tempus-Illo._ The latter being an alarm spell that required similar wand movements from the _Caterconsopio_ and the _Tempus_ finalized by two different movements: an infinity shape to set the alarm to sing every day without exception or an incomplete infinity to just one time.

What Severus did not predict was Remus falling asleep seconds after casting the _Caterconsopio_ properly, making James and Severus jump to save him from falling off the bench and smashing his face on the floor.

Remus mumbled something before snoring loudly. He cuddled his hands below his chin as he curled up around himself, getting comfortable on the hard bench.

"Remus? Hey, wake up!" James poked the boy, receiving an even more louder snore as an answer. "Remus!"

"Mommy… Not moon, mommy!" Remus said before pouting and snoring again, making James and Severus cackle at their friend's mumbling and the misfortune.

Severus tried to compose himself after their laughing fit, he had never seen something so funny like this! He had completely forgotten about the result of casting _Caterconsopio_ and had naively taught them how to do the spell.

"How do we wake him up?" James asked when he finally had enough air in his lungs.

Instead of answering James question, Severus concentrated on his memory palace and tried to search for a spell that could wake someone. He went by spell by spell, to see if he could fish one, luckily he soon found the _Rennervate_ spell. Which he had never used - or thought that he would - but he had memorized the instruction and left the palace to find James looking at him with unreadable expression on his face. Severus practiced the pronunciation (RENN-a-vate) before pointing his wand at Remus chest, waking up the poor boy rather harshly by his reaction. He apologized to him immediately, but Remus wanted none of it and dismissed the apologize, saying that everything was ok.

They departed to the Great Hall to have diner, promising to meet at the library to search for a Hogwarts' map because by tomorrow they would be already discovering each tiny corner of their school.

 **.o.**

The first thing that Severus noticed when he arrived by the Slytherin table was the familiar poor transfigured white bowl and the tart inside it, being doubled restlessly as everyone around it grabbed one after another. People were still arriving at the Great Hall and there wasn't yet a single plate of food on the tables.

"Has the bowl left your hand for at least a second since yesterday?" Severus mocked with a smirk on his lips.

The owner of said hand looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"Of course," Rosier deadpanned.

"Not a single second," Rabastan said at the same time, instantly receiving a glare from Rosier. "He shrank the bowl and put it inside his pajamas' pocket when he went to sleep."

"That's because I know exactly which type of person sleeps near me," Rosier said drily and looked at Severus standing behind him. "Are you going to sit or not?"

Severus ignored the question and decided to seat beside Rosier anyway, seeing that there wasn't any first year that he knew at the table.

"Wait," An unknown boy, to Severus, said – shouted – making people look at him. "Rosier, where was the tart when you went to the bathroom this morning?"

"Still inside of my pajamas… Why?"

"The same pajamas that you wore to the toilet and was left on the floor and that you stepped over after showering!?"

"Yes…?"

Everyone who still had a tart on their hands, looked at them with a disgusted face.

"You are gross and you made me eat this!" Emma was the first to complain, sneering as she threw the tart on the table, making it crumble in the process.

"Shut up, it was on my pocket with a spell on it! It was safe!" Rosier said glaring at Emma. Even Severus felt sorry for the poor tart. Unfortunately, for the tarts' sake, more were thrown on the table.

"It was on the floor!" The unnamed boy said exasperated. "Near where you wank every morning!"

" _You are gross_ for talking about this at the table." Rosier scorned with his eyes narrowing at the other boy. "For your information, I don't spend my time wanking in the bathroom, Buckwater."

"As if we'd believe it," Buckwater, the now named boy, said sarcastically.

"Well, I don't care about what you think," Rosier said scorning at the boy. "Because I don't need to wank, I'm sexually active. Not that you'd know what even it means."

"You are virgin, you wanker." Rabastan said snorting, winking at Severus when he looked at him.

"Et tu, Rabastan?" Rosier said sounding sad over Rabastan betrayal, but he soon was scowling again. " _I'm not a virgin_."

Before someone else could keep provoking Rosier, " _Ostende Virtus_ " was said by a deep voice and a baby blue light shone from Rosier's entire body before fading slowly.

Severus was curious about the spell Malfoy used, just the mechanics of it, because the purpose and the results were obvious. People laughed while deep crimson painted Rosier's face.

"Stop embarrassing yourself, Rosier." Malfoy said with a monotonous voice. "There isn't any Slytherin girl or boy who would fall at such disgrace and lay with you."

"It could be from other houses…" Rosier said with as much dignity as he had left.

"What did I say a second ago? Stop embarrassing yourself. Is it too much to ask?" Malfoy asked in a condescending tone of voice.

Rosier opened his mouth to speak again, but Severus touched his arm, making the boy look at him.

"Just stop, for Merlin's sake." He said intervening the banter. "You are not a wanker and you'll eventually have a sexual relationship and be _sexually active_ , just relax." Severus said as serious as he could, but when Rabastan laughed, Severus couldn't hold the giggle for much longer, but he tried to maintain a serious face.

Rosier glared at him. "There are a lot of people trying to get into my pants."

"I believe in you," Severus said seriously, biting his bottom lip as the boys around them kept snickering.

Fortunately, the food appeared and everyone was distracted enough to drop the subject. For while nobody talked, most occupied in serving themselves.

"You know, after you left there were some people questioning me about you," Rosier said after a few minutes in, with a disinterested voice. "As much as the doubling charm is easy to perform, casting a spell or a charm as a curse is way beyond sixth year level… Some were wondering about your tutelage. What's the name of your tutor? Did you have more than one?"

Severus studied Rosier face for a moment before answering, lying through his teeth. "It was my mother who taught me everything, from herbs, charms, runes… She taught me everything that I wanted to know. There weren't lesson plans of anything, just what could be useful no matter how hard it could be to learn."

Rosier looked impressed, but his expression changed quickly into a frown. "I could say that your mother is awesome, but I can't see past her lack of judgment for marrying a mudblood, seriously."

"Can't argue with you about it," Severus said with a sigh, feeling internally conflicted. He was aware that he was passing by a prejudiced person towards muggleborns, which he isn't, but when the subject is his father he can't seem to be rational.

They halted the conversation to pay attention to their food, until Severus broke the silence some time later, returning to talk about his mother. "Unfortunately, my mother couldn't teach me potions because we didn't an appropriate room to set up a potions lab. So I'll pay exclusive attention to this class because of it."

Rosier hummed, finishing swallowing his food before asking, "So did you like your first potions class?"

"Absolutely! Professor Slughorn was really good at explaining everything to us. I'm really excited to brew my first potion next class!" Severus replied excitedly, but he did not expect Rosier to sneer at him.

"Slughorn is a mediocre potion's master and everyone know about it." Rosier as an explanation for his reaction.

"You are joking." Severus accused.

"Unfortunately, I'm quite serious. He was forbidden to try to enter any Potions Master Guide, because he tried too many times and failed every single one of them." Rosier said with a mean smirk on his face. "So they gave him an ultimatum, if he tries the test one more time and fails, they would strip him of his of his Mastery. The coward never showed to the test, making him unable to try to enter any other Guide without the consent of the Britain's Guide."

"So he's just a mediocre Potions Master?" Severus asked, trying to hide his crestfallen face. Rosier laughed at him anyway.

"Well, at least he tries to compensate society for his failure as wizard by throwing extravagant parties during summer to the elite while providing some good networking parties for the important students of Hogwarts during school year. We just tolerate him." Rosier said shrugging.

"Are you talking about Slughorn?" Emma asked, she was just a sitting beside Rabastan at the other side of the table. Seeing Severus nodding, she kept talking with an evil smirk on her almost angelic face. "Did you notice that he was acting a bit strange yesterday? He's always like that in the first day because he eats so much that he gets diarrhea every time."

People snickered around him and Severus felt a little disgusted at the professor that he was minutes ago admiring! He was discovering a hard truth as time passed, adults in general are disappointing creatures. You could never trust one without being disappointed at least once. Severus would pay attention to his own growing up, though. He's not going to become such an incompetent person; he's going to make sure of it.

Slughorn as it turned out, was everyone's joke. They were subtle, not looking at him at the staff table and when speaking of his name it was always in a whisper, but there wasn't a single ounce of respect for their Head of House.

Long after having finished his meal, Severus saw Remus and James finally getting up from their table to leave the Great Hall. Not wanting to waste time, he soon said his goodbyes to the people around him and went to the dungeons accompanied with two other Slytherins to get Sneaky from the common room. The poor cat was left alone for too long now.

Sneaky apparently didn't mind being left alone at all, because when Severus found him, he was lazing cuddling with another cat in front of the fire. A much bigger black cat was grooming the fur of Sneaky's neck, causing the white fluffy cat to purr. He decided to leave his cat where he was, just petting him a little and then going to clean and refill the water and food bowl before leaving to the library.

He found James and Remus at the library's entrance waiting for him. Mrs. Hops, the librarian name was written in a small golden nameplate, smiled to them when they approached her. When they asked for the most detailed map of Hogwarts, she promptly gave them a small map from a stack on her desk, and with another smile she bid them good night before turning back to her book.

It didn't take a second for them to realize that the map was the same as the one inside their common room. Completely useless.

When they went back to talk with Mrs. Hops again, the woman didn't even look up at them. Severus tried a different approach.

"Ma'am, could you please at least say where we could find a book that has a more detailed Hogwarts map?"

Mrs. Hops kept reading her book.

For all the smiles she gave, she was a completely rude -

" _Bitch_ ," James said with a sneer after leaving the library.

"James," Remus reprehended. "I think you shouldn't call Mrs. Hops-"

"She was a bitch, Remus." Severus interrupted. "I say _fudge_ instead of fuck, but I don't have any objection to say it out aloud. She is a _bitch_."

"We could try to talk with one of the prefects to see if there's other maps… One that hey use when they patrol the corridors." Remus suggested.

"I doubt that they would give one," Severus said shaking his head and dismissing the idea.

They decided to walk around, talking with the portraits and having fun in the moving stairs. Most of the portraits were creepers and dumb little things that didn't even know they were a portrait. But here and there, they found some with interesting stories to tell them about Hogwarts and their lives. It was after talking with the portrait of a former professor, that Remus came with an interesting conclusion about their map problem.

"Well, maybe there's a reason why they don't make a detailed map… If the chamber of secrets legend is anything to go by."

So they went back at the professor's portrait to talk with him about Hogwarts mysteries and possible secret passages when they found the portrait empty.

Their bad luck wasn't running out at all.

So they walked aimlessly, waiting for the time to go to the Astronomy class, which turned out to be one of the coolest classes. There was a lot of kids falling asleep by the end of the class, but it was amazing to look at the starts with a telescope.

When Severus went back to his room with a purring Sneaky on his arms, he found Sirius curtains completely shut around his bed. It didn't matter though, tomorrow he's going to resolve that situation.

 **.o.**

Next morning came and Severus was once again waking up too early. Awfully early. But he decided to leave his bed and do some productive instead of wasting time. By productive he meant, bathing and soaking his sleepy body in the awesome body wash that Hogwarts provided, talking with Sneaky about yesterday events and combing his long hair before finally leaving for the Great Hall to wait for breakfast with a book to read. He had just finished an interesting chapter about magical creatures when Lily invited him to sit with her on the Gryffindor table. He hesitated a little, but seeing that the Hall was almost empty he went to talk with her.

Gryffindor girls were surprisingly nice to him after the initial shock and distrust. He liked Alice more than the rest of them for her interest in charms. Between him, Alice and Lily they couldn't stop talking about charms. Sure, they were behind him, but both had read their books before coming to Hogwarts and had a good grasp on charm's theory.

Severus went back to the Slytherin table just in time to see Mulciber and some of his year mates arrive, giving Severus time to talk with them since yesterday. As they have a free period before Charms, they decided to stay in the Hall for a while just talking.

When they finally headed for their first class, Severus once more found himself sitting beside Lucinda. This class Slytherin and Hufflepuff, and some familiar faces were already sitting for the professor. A hufflepuff boy, Davey Gudgeon if he isn't mistaken, greeted him with a smile and enthusiastic wave of his hand, making Severus smile in return for the silly behavior.

"Do you know him?" Lucinda asked, Severus then realized that she was watching the exchange with a strange disgusted expression on her face.

"I met him briefly yesterday. Why?" he asked.

"Just curious…" She said shrugging her shoulders. "You were all smiley to him…"

"What!?" Severus' voice cracked with a shriek. He immediately coughed, trying to cover his embarrassing voice. "I wasn't all smiley to him. I was greeting him, Lucinda, and I smiled because he was funny. What's the problem in that?"

He already knew that there some prejudices and rivalries between houses because of Sirius and James explanation, but he had thought that it resumed to Gryffindors and Slytherins… Well, fake until you make it. He can probably overpass the prejudiced thoughts of his peers if he plays the unaware card.

"Well, they are _puffs_ , they don't have any quality to go to the other houses..."

Severus bit his lip and tried to not scold her. "They have their loyalty… They say it's a quality."

"Excuses," Lucinda dismissed. "If I can help it, I'll never talk with one."

"Suit yourself... I don't see the problem in being polite with them," Severus explained with a disinterested voice.

Lucinda eyed him with a clear _I don't believe in you_ expression on her face. "You are friends with Gryffindors too… Everyone was talking about you yesterday after diner."

"Seriously?" Severus asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Lucinda said nodding her head. "Your name came up when the boys were talking about who was more pretty and-"

"Shut up, Lucinda. You are making fun of me." Severus said seriously, not liking at all being joked about. He looked around the classroom, noticing that mostly Slytherin were there as it was still early.

"I'm serious!" Lucinda defended herself, making Severus look at her again. "What you don't believe me? You are all pretty with cute lips, creamy skin and pretty satin hair and-"

"Satin hair?" Severus shrieked, once again for his own embarrassment. "What does it even mean!? And I'm not pretty! Stop making fun of me!" He hissed his last words, trying to make it sound like a threat.

"I already said that I'm not!" Lucinda hissed back before composing herself, sighing. "Don't play modest with me. The hufflepuffs boys and girls were all over you yesterday."

"Because I was teaching them," Severus replied more calmly. "They were paying attention to that. Not _me_."

"Well, _suit yourself._ " she mocked his words back at him. "Be stubbornly dense about it if you want. The thing is that boys just commented about, I eavesdrop they talking about some of the girls when they commented about you."

"This conversation keeps getting worse," Severus said with groan, hiding his face on his hands.

"Anyway, the rest of the girls arrived at the common room and the boys stopped talking about who was the prettier and the girls thought they were just talking about you. They joined the conversation because everyone is interested in you," Lucinda said with a smirk

Severus opened his mouth to protest about it, but she quickly continued. "Almost everyone knows each other, Severus. Our families has a tradition to keep the Slytherin community close… But then you came, a complete nobody, and you know how to do some cool spells that we - _purebloods_ \- don't know! And on the first day you're already talking with Rosier and Lestrange and then at our Potions class you are talking with Potter and Fortescue… Mulciber and _Carrow_ said that you are cool to talk too! The rest of us are pretty curious about you."

Severus was stunned. Does people pay attention to what he does? It is such a strange and foreign concept to him. He's used to being what Lucinda just said, a nobody, the cast out of the class.

He didn't like it.

"I'm just Severus, Lucinda. Nothing special," he said with a calm voice. "I met Potter just a day before coming to Hogwarts and Fortescue in the class. Yesterday after dinner, I got lost and Rosier helped me and then it happened that I ended talking with his year mates and got to meet Rabastan. Just that, nothing special."

"Well, if you say so…" Lucinda said, shrugging. "But what about your family?"

"Only my mother is a pureblood, if that's what are you asking."

"And what's her name?" She insisted.

"I don't understand why this means so much." Severus said, wanting to play dumb at this, but he was getting tired of this talk already. Everyone had to ask the same questions every single time.

"Are you joking? Of course the family name is important, you know this. Everyone knows this!"

Severus couldn't deny her words."I know, but it's a delicate subject to me.."

"You can tell me, I will not talk with anyone else." Lucinda said with earnest eyes.

Considered her a little, before saying, "It's Eileen Prince."

The reaction was instantaneous.

"Eileen Prince!?" Lucinda whispered with wide eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Severus replied. Mrs. Potter had said that his mother's history was a known between Pureblood families, so he didn't discard the possibility of Talkalot knowing about her.

"Severus, if you are serious, we really need to talk about it." Lucinda said seriously. Severus just nodded his head at her.

Fortunately, Professor Flitwick arrived a minute later and with him the rest of the students from Hufflepuff. The class started right way and Flitwick went to explain their journey through the years to learn charms.

Severus was disappointed because they weren't going to actually start practical classes for at least a month and only if everyone have learned the basic wand movements. But he would be explaining the core of the theory, so Severus sat happily listening to the way Flitwick explained. When the professor asked question he was not the first to raise his hand, but when he looked at Severus general direction and no one replied, Severus felt compelled to answer, gaining some points to Slytherin.

Lucinda had thankfully dropped the subject about his family and she had some questions about Charms that Severus promptly started to explain to her.

After lunch they had DADA and the class fascinated Severus as much as Potions. The professor started to explain the intention of the magic and how they can easily be used to different ends, resulting in different branches of magic. It was interesting to study how to protect themselves for an entire branch of magic, using spells from light, neutral and even dark magic to do so.

He didn't like some of the Gryffindor comments and insinuations, but he did not let it get to him, just ignoring and answering the professor's questions. Gaining more points to Slytherin. He was like this system a lot even more after being explained at lunch about the House Cup. Mulciber, who was beside him, didn't ignored the gryffindor's remarks, and easily insulted their intelligence with subtle words.

Severus, Carrow and Mulciber left the DADA classroom talking about what their impressions of the professor. Both explained to Severus how good it was to have someone from the "Dark Side" to teach them that year, because they would have unbiased classes about dark arts. Severus was imparcial, seeing that he liked to study whatever was thrown at him anyway.

One thing that was nagging him is what Lucinda had said earlier, did people really talked about his appearance? He knows that he has changed, but from being the _ugly_ duck to a _pretty_ duck? That was just ridiculous.

Carrow chuckle brought his attention back to the present, he looked at the boy to see he and Mulciber looking at something that made both of them laugh. When he looked at the same direction, he saw Rosier, Rabastan and Avery bullying a Hufflepuff boy. The poor boy was trying to get his wand back, but every time he tried they hexed him with some hex that looked pretty painful to be hit by it.

Severus tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it was hard. He had to gather a tremendous amount of power to not let his anger mixed with sadness show in his face as he kept looking at the scene.

Mulciber sneered a nasty comment about Puff boy, making Carrow chuckle again.

Apparently Hogwarts wasn't free of bullying. And to think that someone as _friendly_ as Rabastan e Rosier could carry a nasty smirk on their faces as they hexed another person. It made Severus reconsider talking to the both of them ever again. He had suffered from bullies enough times to feel disconnected from their nasty remarks, but it didn't mean that he was over it. He _hates_ it and hates the fact that Rosier was a bully too.

He doesn't want to think about right now, though. He wants to go to his flying lesson and have fun and afterwards he and James would talk with Sirius and everything is going to be alright.

. **o.**

Flying class was the distraction he was needing after what felt a long ass day. He missed Sneaky and wanted to cuddle his cat until he fall asleep to wake up only tomorrow. Obviously he couldn't, so he focused in just paying attention to his teacher, because afterwards he will have a rather emotional moment with Sirius and James and he needs to be calm for it.

When Severus first got a glimpse of Hogwarts' brooms, he felt only disappointment. They looked old as dirt and so frail that if one fell apart be wouldn't be too surprised… Until he got to touch one of them, because he could feel the different layers of magical power oozing from the broom, much greater than the moderns ones from James' house. He should've known tough, when things are magical, you can never judge the book for its cover, or in this case the broom by its bristles. The broom gave him a sense of security, so he let his worries about falling on his ass go and felt excited to start flying on it.

The class was over too soon. Some of the students didn't have a once of talent to keep themselves floating on a broom. But people like Sirius and James boasted confidence and ability in their flight. He had just put his broom back on the ground when he got James looking at him and pointing to Sirius and as soon as the professor dismissed them, they ran and stood by each side of Sirius, surprising the boy completely. Before he could ran, they grabbed both of his arms.

Sirius obviously wasn't going to make it easy for them. He tried to set himself from their grip immediately, hissing at them. "Release me!"

"No! We're going to talk, Sirius!" James hissed back.

"But I don't want to!" Sirius snarled.

Severus knew that there was a lot of people watching the scene trying to make what the hell was happening. So instead of participating in their hissing fight, he interrupted James mid sentence with a whisper, "We need to go somewhere else."

Sirius and James looked at him.

"I don't want to go," Sirius said with his pouty brat attitude.

"Let's go seat near the lake," James suggested.

"So you can drown me?" Sirius taunted.

"Shut up, Sirius." James said impatiently, making Sirius just looked blankly at him. "Let's go then."

Somehow they got Sirius moving with them, but it was probably their unyielding hold on him.

Before leaving, Severus got a glimpse at his Slytherin mates, but it was Mulciber who held his attention with a smirking plastered on his face. When he saw Severus looking, he mouthed a _Good Luck_. Or Severus thought so. No matter, he had a prisoner to hold.

When they arrived at their destination, James forced a very reluctant Sirius to sit on the grass.

"As I said, we need to talk and we are doing it now," James said seriously as he sat besides Sirius and Severus sat in front of them. Sirius remained right lipped. "The first thing you need to know is that we don't care that you are a Slytherin."

"This isn't about-" Sirius started to say, but Severus interrupted him.

"I don't you too well, but I know the situation. I know that it was important to you to prove something for you family. But what we and James want to say to you is that you don't _need_ to _prove_ to _anyone_ that you are different from your family," he said quickly, Sirius tried to interrupt many times, but he was not having it. "We know that you have your pride and we know that you wanted to be sorted into Gryffindor to prove to your family that you're not like them. But you don't need to. Not like this, you can prove by just being _yourself_ and don't let dictate your life and how you live it. I have a lot of issues with my family too, but I learned to work with it and live my live that way I want it."

Sirius looked stunned at him. Severus didn't judged him, he wasn't a one for long speeches and a rather authoritative voice.

"You don't understand..." Sirius said in a whisper after some time just looking at his hands.

"We understand," James replied before Severus could. "I grew with you, Sirius, I know a lot about you. And you should know that a house you are sorted into, means almost nothing about a person. My mother is a Black and she was from Slytherin, you know this. And you know how much a better person she is compared to the rest of the family… You are the black sheep just like she is."

Sirius snorted at James words, but kept his gaze to his hands, not seeing that James eyes were filled with affection for him.

"I know you, Sirius. And I haven't changed the way that I think about you just because you are a snake now... We are my best friend and my best cousin." James said with his voice almost quivering with emotion.

 _Oh Merlin, I think I'm going to cry_. Severus though as he felt his eyes wet. He quickly rubbed them to hide his tears.

He wasn't quickly enough, though.

"You made Severus cry, wanker." James accused as poked Sirius' cheeks.

Sirius immediately looked at Severus' face and Severus noticed right away that the beautiful blue eyes were wet too. Severus gave him a smile instead of saying something to him, he looked at James instead.

"It was your fault, James," Severus said trying to lighten up the mood. "Your speech was all mellow and-"

"Now _you_ shut up," James threatened,making Severus giggle quietly.

"James was always like this with his girly feelings." Sirius mocked with a smirk on his lips. Severus' plan thankfully working. " _You are my best friend for ever, Sirius. Let's have a tea party with our Teddy bears!_ " Sirius imitation of James voice was ridiculous, but Severus couldn't laughing at it.

James was not amused, though. He narrowed his eyes at Sirius before asking, "So are you going to admit that you were a bloody prat and stop avoiding us?"

"I was not-"

"Save it," James dismissed. "So, are you?"

Sirius' shoulders sagged, when he opened his mouth to talk, was to finally confess his feelings. "I was a prat, ok? I shouldn't have avoided you! I was just really _really_ _**really**_ upset about… I still need time to get over it. I had all my hopes and I was planing my _future_ around the fact that I would be a lion and not a snake. I have to accept, but it's hard... So don't hang me on that."

James was a really taken back at the harsh tone of Sirius voice, but a good chunk of tension left his shoulders. Severus decided to intervene with calm worlds.

"You can count on us for that, Sirius" Severus promised honestly. "You just need to be open about that with us like you are being right know."

"I'll try," Sirius agreed with some hesitation.

"Well, you can start by not ignoring us when you are upset. _Specially me_ ," James commanded.

Sirius only answer was a tired sigh.

They were silent for a while, looking at the lake to seek a feel glimpses of the giant squid. But their thoughts and attention were far from the black water.

"So are we good?" Severus asked breaking the silence, his voice calm, trying to not pressure Sirius. "No more ignoring and avoiding me at the Slytherin table and in our dorm?"

Sirius looked as guilt as he should be. "For what's worth, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry," he said earnestly. "We just met and I was a idiot and shouldn't have acted the way I did to you."

Severus accepted the apology with a smile, but Sirius next question left him stunned.

"Can I hug you?"

Severus could only nod, not trusting his voice to speak, and soon he felt Sirius wrapping his arms around him with a quick but warm hug, that squeezed his body against Sirius in a friendly but affectionate gesture.

James said something making fun of Sirius that the boy turned against James, both falling pretty easily into a banter.

Severus though, was too far way too grasp what they were saying. He was trying hard to not think about the fact that Sirius was the second person to ever give him a hug. And that it felt nice to be hugged like that.

 **.o.**

Friday morning came and Severus was introduced to the most boring teacher all of existence. It was ridiculous and thank god he had brought Sneaky to the class with him. The prospect of having the class again on Monday got him a little stressed, but he tried to not think about _Monday_ and _Friday_ having History for their first class... It's like the older years are trying to torture them by making them suffer with the bloody ghost.

By the end of the class, he was already planing to start a personal project. First phase is to search if it's against the law to put a ghost to rest against their wish. Second phase would consist of trying to find a way to put it to rest. He has seven years to try and until them, it will be his mission to have a better history class!

Thinking about history made him compare Hogwarts to his old muggle school. If a person would study to see the bigger picture, one could see a great deal of similarities between the curriculum of the two schools. Even with the different names and completely different subjects you can still see that the principle of things are similar. Science, Chemistry, History, P.E… The magical world just had a complete different way of understanding the universe and what make it works.

Unfortunately, Friday meant that there's no class with gryffindors, so he and Sirius couldn't talk with James during the day. Their disappointment was short lived tough, because they found out that both houses had the second half of the afternoon classes free!

Sirius was introduced to Remus and the two of them liked each other just fine even if they were extremely opposites. It helped that Remus wasn't innocent honey eyed boy, he was just shy to express his jokes and funny comments to them. So they soon ganged up together to explore the castle and it's dozens of interesting old classrooms and strange decoration. By dinner time, they were relaxing and sitting on the bridge, and the time that Sirius spent moping and being a brat well forgiven and forgotten.

When the entered the Great Hall for dinner, their group split in opposite directions with a grunted goodbye, everyone too hungry to care about being polite to each other. Before arriving at the Slytherin table, Severus discreetly grabbed Sirius' hand and directed the boy to sit in the far end of the table. He gave Sirius some lame excuse, but the reality was because he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth about his feelings to Sirius right now. He was feeling conflicted about the older Slytherin boys and he can't see himself going willing to talk with a bunch of bullies.

He was talking with Sirius and Mulciber about the giant squid when he saw Lucinda arrive at the table with a bunch of other girls. She threw him a strange look that he couldn't understand before sitting, but if he had to guess it was probably to remind him that she wanted to talk about something serious about his mother with him since yesterday. He could talk to her tomorrow, though, so he put the thoughts about her away and focused on what Sirius was saying.

If Severus only knew about the family problems and heartaches he was bringing to his life, he wouldn't have ever told his mother's name to the girl.

* * *

Huh. What's up with Lucinda? Any thoughts? And what about James/Sirius/Sev talk? It was what you were expecting or it was just meh? Sirius being the second person to ever hug Sev left me all sad after writing it, so I had to cuddle with my pillow. :(

Hope to see you soon! s2


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes:** Hello, dear! As promised a early chapter! Talk about sweet free time! :3

I want to thanks my sweet dears: usuihentai727, biancaruth, NatNicole, Hime chan Natsumi, mellessil, tigerlily124 and three amazing guests who left all the love last chapter and motivated me to keep writing!

Love you guys! s2 Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

 **CHAPTER NINE**

 **.o.**

"We are cousins, Severus."

Severus cocked his head to his right side and blinked slowly at Lucinda. He looked down at his lap to see Sneaky playing with the tail of his new friend, the Unknown Black Cat who was also cuddled on his lap. He and Lucinda were sitting in the common room in one its many comfortable armchairs, the cold air of the early morning making them sit close to the charmed fire. He woke up this morning still cuddling with Sneaky and he isn't planning to stop for anything, spending his Saturday spoiling his cat rotten.

"Severus, did you hear me?"

Severus looked at Lucinda again before looking around to see if there's any one close to the earshot, but thankfully there was none.

"Severus-"

"If this is some kind of joke…"

"No it's not," Lucinda said, sounding and looking like she was serious. Severus looked for something that could tell she's joking, but he found none. "I almost couldn't believe when you said that your mother is Eileen Prince because she disappeared years before I was even born. But you look quite similar to the rest of the family and-"

"Lucinda," Severus interrupted impatiently. "I'm really serious here, why-"

"I'm serious too, Severus." Lucinda said not letting Severus continue. "Did you know that your grandmother is the daughter of Margot Fawley?"

Severus tried to concentrate to see if he remembered the name, but as he didn't know the name of his grandmother let alone of his great-grandmother, nothing came up on his mind. "No," he replied her with a blank stare.

Lucinda frowned at him, "Didn't your mother told about her family to you?"

"No." Severus replied again, feeling even angrier at the girl. "Could you get to the point already?"

"Ok," Lucinda said before releasing a tired sigh. "As you don't nothing I'll tell you a little of our history, but I'll try to summarize the best I can. So, the surname Fawley, one of the sacred twenty-eight families, doesn't exist anymore because they had only two daughters, so they couldn't carry their family name after marriage. Unfortunately, the two Fawley daughters had also only one daughter each. Maryse Prince, Eileen's mother, was the daughter of Clarine Holstein née Fawley and Clarine's sister was Julia Mountdiven née Fawley, who is the mother of Grania Talkalot, my grandmother. So, Grania Talkalot and Maryse Prince are cousins. Your mother Eileen and my father Fergus are second cousins and _we are_ third cousins."

Severus didn't know what he could or should say to Lucinda at this. After a while of her silence, Severus asked the first thing that he could think of, "Who's still alive?"

"My grandmother Grania is dead, but my grandfather and your grandparents are very much alive." Lucinda answered. "Listen, I'm not telling you this because of… You know... In our world everyone is literally related to everyone in some degree and you… You know,"

Severus frowned, he was feeling completely numb inside as he finally realized that all this time he spent in that hell hole while he could be spending with his grandparents! He has _wizard_ grandparents and Eileen had _lied_ to him about them. When Mrs. Potter had told him four days ago - it seemed it was months ago -, he hadn't give it a thought, it seemed surreal and distant at the time. But now it seemed _real_. He still has grandparents and has a _family_ outside of Spinner's End.

He tried to enclose his overwhelming feelings, letting a cold sensation numb even more his feelings. He looked at Lucinda coldly, "No, I don't know what you are trying to say. But if we are really _third_ cousins as you said… We are _hardly_ cousins, Lucinda."

Lucinda apparently wasn't having none of that, because he looked quite affronted at him.

"There's no _if_ , we _are_ related." Lucinda protested. "I don't know about how your mother is today, but our entire family still thinks that she'll return back to them someday. And to know that you are her son, that you are here, but she hasn't come back to see her parents… I'll have to tell to our family about this."

 _Our family,_ Severus thought bitterly. _She keeps saying our family like I'm a part of them! But I'm not and probably will never be… Because of Tobias. I'd be a part of them if she didn't run to marry Tobias. Everything in my life is shit because of Tobias._

"I don't know, Lucinda…" Severus said after some consideration. "I don't think that they'll accept me and my mother if they knew about her now. Your pureblood family will be none too happy to learn what path her daughter choose for herself."

Lucinda looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Severus, I know that your mother married a mudblood. But this is no excuse to not let our family know about that she's alive and well. Think about her parents, her brother… There are people who cares about her even if she doesn't care about them. They'll just probably tell her to leave him or something."

Severus bit bottom lip, feeling quite conflicted, but suddenly something registered in his mind. "She has a _brother_?"

"Yes, Magnus Prince…" She said, nodding at him. She then looked at him hesitantly, before asking, "Did you really didn't know that you have an uncle or that your grandparents are alive?"

"No," Severus replied, feeling his heart heavier and numb in his chest. "My uncle, how old is he?"

"He's quite young, only 14. He was born a year after Eileen left," Lucinda explained. "I talk to him sometimes during the holidays. Actually, a lot of people from Slytherin knows your uncle because we go to the same holiday parties…"

"So he's studying here on the fifth year?" Severus asked with trepidation.

"No, his parents decided to put him in Durmstrang." Lucinda said with a sad smile on her face.

Severus tried to not glare at her, she was clearly pitting him and he hated it. He didn't want pity.

"Who studies in Durmstrang?" A voice asked behind them.

Lucinda and Severus jumped in their seats, getting caught completely unaware.

 _Damn it!_ Severus thought angry with himself for getting distracted. He looked up to see Rosier smirking over him. But instead for waiting for the reply, Rosier went to sit beside them with Rabastan right after him, yawning his face off.

"Magnus Prince," Lucinda replied shrugging. "I was explaining to Severus about the other magical schools… Magnus was the first name that came up in my mind that lives in London when he's not in school."

"Magnus is a poncy brat," Rosier scoffed with a huff. "Just because he's a Prince he thinks that we should treat him like a _Prince_. I want to put his face on Hippogriff's dung every time I see him."

"But you do envy him, though. You wanted to go to Durmstrang so _baaaad_ …" Rabastan said, provoking his friend.

Severus smirked at Rabastan's taunting, but then memories from yesterday surfaced back at his mind. He did not want to be friends with Rosier after seeing how he behaves when he's not on his playful mood. Acquaintances yes, but not friends.

Rosier said something that made Lucinda laugh and Rabastan at him, but Severus didn't hear it, completely immersed in his thoughts.

 _What do I do? Act as if everything is normal?_ He thought, trying to look bored and not the nervous wreck he was becoming.

He looked at Lucinda and saw the girl frowning at him. Great, Lucinda already realized that something is wrong with him.

"Hey," he called trying to get their attention. "I'll have to go back to my room because I have some things to organize, but I'll join you at breakfast, alright?"

He gave them a forced smile before flying from there, waiting only long enough to hear their replies. As he got near his room, he saw Hallewell, a fellow first year he greeted once at the dining table, standing in front of his room's door humming distractedly.

"Hi," Severus greeted with a smile when he stood beside the boy. "Do you need something?"

Hallewell looked at him and shook his head. "I'm just waiting for Mulciber, mate."

"Alright, I can open the door to you if-"

"Good morning," Mulciber greeted then as he opened the door. He looked fresh out of the shower and appearing to be in a rather good mood.

 _Which I'm not,_ Severus thought bitter with envy.

"Good morning, Mulciber," Severus greeted back with a fake smile. "Are you going to have some breakfast?"

"Yeah, you joining?"

"No," Severus replied, grimacing at Mulciber. "I have some work to do. I'll head there after I finish here."

Severus went inside of his room as he said that to Mulciber, he looked around the room and found Sirius reading a book on his bed.

"Okay then," Mulciber said shrugging. "See you two there!"

Severus waved his hand at the two boys before closing the door and marching to his bed with a groan, realizing that he had forgotten Sneaky on the common room.

"You okay there, Severus?" Sirius asked from his bed, frowning at Severus.

Severus answer was another groan, but he soon sighed and answering properly, "I'm not okay," he confessed. "I hate my life."

Sirius immediately jumped from his bed. "What happened?" Sirius asked concerned and rushed to sit on Severus' bed. "Someone is giving you trouble?"

"No, there isn't anyone," Severus said as he turned his head to look at Sirius. "Well, a lot of people are part of my problem, but it's just…"

"What?" Sirius asked seeing that Severus want going to continue. "You can tell me. I was a prat I know, but I'll show you that I'm awesome friend when I'm not moping."

Severus laughed dryly at that. "I saw Rosier, Avery and Lestrange bullying a Hufflepuff yesterday and I just can't see myself being friends with them after that… I know I met them just three days ago, but they seemed to be smart and funny,"

Sirius looked at him with sympathy, "I know almost everyone from this house, Severus. I can say for sure that there isn't one person without a mean streak. That's why I didn't want to become a Slytherin and be _compared_ to them. I wanted to show that I'm much more than just a dark wizard and their shitty pure blood supremacy."

It was Severus' time to look with sympathy at his friend. He had known Sirius' reasons, but only now that he could understand it. Before he had only seen the good side of his Slytherin _friends_ , but now he saw what Sirius spent his life seeing.

Which brought him to think about the other reasons he was upset right now, he told Sirius just that.

"But I'm not upset just because of that, I lied to Rosier, to you, to James' parents... And I keep lying, lying and lying… It'll turn into a giant snowball that will smother me anytime now," Severus said almost whispering, not wanting to say this to Sirius, but needing to finally vent about this to someone.

Sirius was understandably suspicious. "What are you talking about, Severus?"

Severus got up from his laying position and sat on his bed, his back to the headboard and legs folded.

"I lied about my father being a muggleborn," he said direct to the point. "I was thinking that no one would be interested enough about my life to want to know about him and prove that he isn't a muggleborn but just a _muggle_. I thought that I could keep the lie. But I can't because people know my mother and they always want to know about the _Snape_ she has married…"

Sirius looked confused at him for a moment before he finally realized, "You mother is hiding from her family! I heard Dorea telling this to you but I didn't think about the consequences of people knowing this... Your father is really a muggle then? That's why you mother is hiding?"

"I don't know, but if I had to guess I'd say yes," Severus said with anger on his voice. "And as James' mother have told the history to me and Lucinda have just confirmed it to me as well, my mother is _lost_ and everyone is still thinking that she'll come back. But she isn't! She married a bloody muggle who beats her and she does nothing to protect herself! She doesn't leave him! A bloody witch and don't anything!"

Severus tried to calm down, but he just couldn't. "I'm not okay and I haven't been for a while. But everything could be solved if my dear _mother_ had done something for herself or for me! But she didn't! And she has a family a real family! And she hid it from me while I was suffering because of that bloody muggle! I want to hate her as much as I hate my father, but I can't!"

Severus didn't know he was crying until Sirius' hand touched his face to wipe the tears. He tried to bat Sirius' hand away, but the boy didn't let him. Instead he wrapped a hand around each of his own and brought them down at Severus' lap.

Severus stared at their joined hands with mixed feelings. He had never thought that he could have this level of intimacy with someone, but from the start his friendship with the boy it had been nothing if not emotional.

"Calm down, Severus. Please, calm down," Sirius whispered soothingly.

"I'm trying but at the same time I don't want to calm down! I want to everything to be simple again before Hogwarts… I want things to be fixed, but I don't know _how_."

Sirius was silent for a while, letting Severus try to control his thoughts that were storming on his mind.

"Do you regret coming to Hogwarts?" Sirius asked after a while.

"No!" Severus answered immediately, but looked defeated a second after. "But things were easier before coming here, just studying and being unaware of the lies that mother was hiding…"

Sirius squeezed his hands, reminding Severus of their joined hands. "Everything will be alright. You can keep your lie if you do not tell anyone about your mother. I'm sure that Dorea won't tell anyone about it too."

"It's not that simple... I told Lucinda Talkalot about my mother and she wants to tell her family because we're second cousins."

"Really?" Sirius asked, sounding surprised. "How?"

"We share the same great-great-grandmother, Margot Fawley," Severus explained. "I just have to convince her to not tell anyone about it so I have time to confront my mother about it without her knowing that her parents know about her."

"I'll help you talk with Lucinda," Sirius suggested. "And if you want and when you are ready we can go to talk with your grandparents. Your mother's situation seemed pretty bad, we can ask for your grandparents help ever if she doesn't want to leave her husband."

Severus looked genuinely stunned at Sirius' words. He looked so confident and serious, making Severus wish to believe and trust on him.

"Do you promise?" Severus asked not bothering to hide how vulnerable he was feeling. "Will you help me?

"I promise."

 **.o.**

Starting from that Saturday morning, Severus slowly tried to distantiate himself from the older slytherin boys. Always sitting with the first years during meals, but remembering to have at least a meal or two with the third year group to not look like he was suddenly ignoring them. It was a slow process, but by the end of a week, the small attention span of the boys helped and they were hardly paying attention to him. Rosier, obviously wasn't satisfied and often searched for Severus, making the raven haired boy learn to cool down his feelings and let go of them, talking with Rosier friendly as always, but never initiating a talk.

Lucinda, seeing the changes on Severus behavior went to talk with him, because now that they are family they _must_ look for each other. To say that Severus was surprised with that, was an understatement. Although a bit reluctant, he agreed with her even if it was to buy her silence. Because she still didn't want to keep the secret, but Severus persuaded her, with Sirius help, until she gave up and let Severus choose the right time to communicate with her – it's our, Severus – family.

As groups of friends naturally started to form inside the first years, Sirius, James, Remus and Severus after spending a week together and getting to know each other, were building a good friendship. As homework started to become more serious and mandatory, they had a scheduled time to go to the library to study together and talk when they didn't have time to explore the castle.

Severus was proud to realize that his group were composed of smart wizards a witches, Alice and Lily joining them sometimes. Even Sirius and James who appeared to be rather sloths and not the studying kind were dedicated to their assignments and study sessions, making the professors impressed enough to stop picking them during classes for not paying attention when the boredom affected them.

James, Sirius and Remus were obviously good, but they couldn't compare to Severus and his almost two years of self-taught. He did not flaunt his talents and his much deeper grasp on magical theory to everyone, but everything he did it was flawless and perfect. During classes, when Severus and Sirius were not competing against Remus and James, they smashed any possibility of the other houses gaining points. Even the poor Ravenclaws couldn't beat the duo… When they were felling like it, even Severus has to throw up the white flag sometimes.

Hogwarts, Severus realized, lacked in a lot of things, but the worst flaw is the small number of teachers to attend the hundreds of students, resulting in a disappointing one-on-one tutoring. There was no self-discovery, no incentive to improvement and worst of all no magical core development guidance… Nothing to help them evolve their _power._ It's like they want you to have the natural growing while studying and hope for the best.

It was one of the first things that Severus learned: different people has different cores, but there was no stopping in the sense of core growing. Perfectly comparable with a muscle that you need to exercise to become stronger. At Hogwarts it's like they make you walk in circles and hope that you gain muscle mass while there are millions of good exercises that you could be making to improve yourself. Severus could feel that his magical core was the same size as most of the sixth years, the poor undeveloped ones at least. But between all the students he knew, muggleborns had the worst cores. Unstable and completely underdeveloped in most of the cases, like a weak muscle you use just once a day.

That information about the muggleborn brought him the possible answer of _why_ Hogwarts didn't teach the students to grow their power. Magical parents were supposed to be the one to groom their child's magic, to make their core stable to hold more power and be capable to really connect with magic in a meaningful level. He just didn't know if this was caused by poor administration or just the prejudice getting in the way in teaching everyone equally. He wanted to believe in the former, thought.

But moving on about his classes… As a responsible person, Severus always paid attention during them, but by being too a far ahead of the rest of the class, made him rather bored and sometimes he found himself not feeling like doing any of the assigned homework. His boredom always being aggravated by the _what_ and _how_ they studied the introductory subjects. Whatever the professor asks he can do it easily, but it's so _lame_ and _useless_. He knows that most of the children shouldn't be preoccupied if there's enough warmth to not freeze to death or enough food, but their practical classes _should_ be more useful than charming birds and whatnot to only make children laugh.

After some consideration, he started to study other different subjects during his classes. Always about the class he was in, but things more useful and that helped him to progress in his development instead of stagnating him. He did it only moderately, though. He has to have his mind in present to keep up with class to answer things correct and participate in discussions, but when he could, he always studied the books he brought. Obviously, there were times that he sucked at maintaining his façade, completely absorbed in his books to look up at his professor at least once. Thankfully, Sirius got his back in this situations and repeated whatever the professor was asking him. After, Severus always made a point of doing some favor for the Black heir for receiving some help, making Sirius even more eager to help Severus during boring classes. They really did make a good pair.

"Mr. Snape, please stay behind. I'd like to have a quick word with you after class," Professor Flitwick said as Severus and everyone else got up from their seats to leave the classroom.

Severus' entire body froze on the spot after hearing the professor's request, ' _What have I done?'_ was his first thought. He heard the students reluctantly leaving the classroom, the bastards wanting to hear what Flitwick had to him.

He looked at Sirius when he felt the boy pulling on his robe's sleeve, seeing the same question on Sirius' face. She shook his head as answer and slowly made his way to Professor Flitwick.

"Professor?" Severus asked hesitantly.

Flitwick smiled kindly as he invited Severus to seat in the nearest chair while he remained sitting on his teacher's chair before he started to talk.

"Well, I'm not the one to play favorites or pay more attention to specific students, but I have noticed your behavior during my classes, Mr. Snape. At first I was concerned and I little angry, questioning myself why would you find books more interesting than pay attention to the class and listen to what I'm lecturing. Why would a brilliant boy act so disrespectfully to his _teacher_? But as I discovered, Professor Mcgonagall has also confirmed to me that you were always paying more attention to your books than to her," Professor Flitwick said with a pointed look, making Severus squirm guiltily on his chair.

Severus almost had a stroke as the professor kept a long, maddening silence while waiting for Severus to speak. But he couldn't say anything, though. Because he couldn't defend himself without confessing that he really didn't pay attention to Flitwick _or_ Mcgonagall.

"I only could understood your situation and probably cause for your behavior, when I got a glimpse at the titles of the books you were reading," Professor Flitwick said finally breaking the silence. "And that is the reason I'll try to make a _deal_ with you and I hope to have your collaboration in this, Mr. Snape. I want you to really pay attention to my classes and the charms that I teach from now on. But as I know that they probably bore you, the deal I want to make with you is for you to _change_ the charms and spells taught during classes and be creative about it."

Severus blinked at him, not quite understanding. "What do you mean, sir? Change the charms!?" Severus asked perplexed.

Flitwick smirked at the pale boy, his eyes glistening in an excited way. "What I meant is that for every charm that I teach you, I want you try to improve it. And this will be the criteria for your evaluation. I want you perform the spell or charm and I want you to _improve_ it. Not only in my class, but in your transfiguration class too. Take the _Avis_ charm for example, instead of conjuring random birds to fly around your head I'd like to see you try to conjure specific birds from a list that I could give you. Or for another example, if in transfiguration you have to transfigure a needle from a match, you have to transfigure with the most peculiar details such as craving in the metal or the type of metal. Plus, beyond improving it I want you to add useful attributes to your new needle like making it unbreakable. Whatever you must do to improve the spell or charm, I want you to try it because I wish to see you invested in my classes again, Mr. Snape."

Severus was stunned at the Professor's proposition. At the same time that he felt shame for being disrespectful with the teachers, he couldn't stop thinking of how brilliant Flitwick's idea was! He could have a much more focused study plan and so many possibilities… But first-

"Can I ask my friends to participate too?" he asked.

Flitwick arched an eyebrow at him. "Do you think that your friends are capable?"

"They are," Severus said, nodding his head excitedly. "I know them and they'll want to have this extra challenges."

"If you say," Flitwick said with a wave of his hand. "Next week, on our Halloween class, we'll start. That is alright for you?"

"Absolutely!" Severus replied enthusiastic and left the classroom as soon the professor let him, hoping to find his friends and them what Flitwick had just proposed to him. Lily and James, both with a real fascination for charms, would be exhilarated. Sirius and Remus, on the other hand loved Transfiguration more... But all of them would love to participate in more interesting assignments with him in both classes, he's absolutely sure of that.

With a content sigh, he thought about how much his Hogwarts year would be a lot more interesting from now on!

If you are a nerd, that is. Cheering for more difficult assignments...

But that's what Severus is, and a proud one at that.

* * *

Thoughts? Suggestions? Complains? Okay, so...

I don't like to bitch about the number of comments or views, but the last two chapter I had a huge drop of views that left me a little upset. I'm talking about until chapter 6 I had a constant of 1000 hits, but chapter 8 was read literally by a hundred of people. Again, I don't mind the number, but I do wonder how I could have lost 900 readers/hits/whatever. How and why!? What have I done? Did the quality drop? The chapters are boring? The way I write is horrible?! These questions can't leave my mind alone. I wrote this chapter trying not think about it because I don't know what I'm doing wrong. :'(

It doesn't matter to you guys, my faithful readers. I'll keep uploading chapters because I know that at least you are waiting for it. Don't my mind rant, please. But if you have your opinion I'll appreciate.

Love you all. s2


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes:**

Real life sucks and I suck too, so I'm sorry. The thing is that I got really nervous about how the fic would end after reading some amazing fanfics that are quite similar to what I was going to write… So I thought that I could change and make it different enough to be interesting for your guys to keep reading and for me writing it… But I sucked at doing this. Then I lost the chapter that a rewrote and also my confidence… It was a mess for a while, but here I am. I want to thanks from the bottom of my heart you guys who kept me from falling into despair and keep me writing again. Thanks ma babies: **Janedoho,** _OnepieceZoroOC_ **, Good Idea,** _NatNicole,_ **Ruelux Prince,** _deathcab135_ **, usuihentai127,** _Reader-annonymous-writer_ **, Aragorn-Lord,** _LibraCaelis,_ **biancaruth,** _Scifibookworm_ **, tigerlily124,** _Reed_ **, Fran-anisca Grave,** _Marily Snape_ **and 5 guests!** s2

This chapter is the end of the first year. Enjoy!

* * *

 **CHAPTER 10**

 **~o~**

Severus was eating a delicious pumpkin pastry when he distractedly looked at the Gryffindor's table and saw the moment that Lily got up from her spot and stood at the table doing Merlin knows what. At first he didn't think nothing about it, continuing to eat and listen to his own house whispered discussion, then Lily's voice started raise until it reached his ears and everyone else's inside the Great Hall, making they look at her with open curiosity. The silence that had installed in the hall, broken by her soft and childlike voice, but her words were firm as she spoke them.

"- are upset and you are totally right, your culture should not be adapted by one person's wish or in favor of a small group! But we want follow wizarding traditions too! As a muggleborn, I want to learn about it and I want to be a part of the wizarding world not as a muggle who doesn't understand it, but as a wizard and a witch like any other! I'll celebrate the Samhain and I'll honor my family on this special day instead of just letting it pass like you all are assuming and talking behind our backs. So I'm letting everyone know it that I'm speaking on behalf of the other muggleborns, that we want to celebrate Samhain too!"

Shouts of "Yes!" and "Me too!" were heard from all of the other house's tables. "We want our Samhain decoration back!" was shouted at the staff table, where every professor was shocked at the student's behavior, especially Dumbledore, whose face showed a deep concern directed to Lily… Severus couldn't tell if he was approving or disapproving Lily's stunt, but he did have an idea if Dumbledore's speech was anything to go by.

Severus, for his part, couldn't close his mouth after hearing Lily's speech and the effect it had caused. He couldn't have predicted that she would do a speech like that! Everything started only as prank, even if it did escalate to something else, but it was just a prank…

"She's definitely a lion," Sirius said chuckling beside him. Severus turned his head to look at his friend and saw his devilish smirk. Everything had been Sirius' idea. It was supposed to be an innocent prank, after Severus had unknowingly given ideas to Sirius some days ago, when he had shared with Sirius his doubts about wizarding traditions. Because even though he spent days reading dozens of books about magic before Hogwarts, he wasn't interested much in reading about wizarding etiquette and traditions, a flaw that he went to Sirius for help.

Well, a person can always learn with their mistakes.

 **~o~**

"Good morning, sleepy _Snapey_ ," Sirius singsong as he sat on Severus' bed, at the sleeping boy's feet, who was now stirring from his sleep.

Severus woke up feeling confused. Something woke him up, but he couldn't remember what. He wasn't hearing his wand alarm nor his mother calling him... But most of the time he wakes up by himself, never his mother had to-

"Severus!" Sirius shouted as he poked Severus stomach.

"What?!" Severus shouted in surprise, jumping from his bed, but falling on the floor with a loud thump. His sheets all wrapped on his legs and his arms hugging his pillow tightly against his body.

Sirius cackled seeing Severus looking sleepy, confused and miserable on the floor. Severus, seeing the situation he was in, tried to glare angrily at Sirius, but all Sirius saw was a big pout on his friend's face, making him laugh even louder.

"Shut up you two!" Mulciber shouted from his bed, making Severus glare more fiercely at Sirius for his loudness and lousiness, making Black chuckle as he apologized to their roommate, he knew well that Mulciber treasured his sleep time like nothing else. Sirius tried to cover a smile when he saw that Severus was still glaring at him, but failed ridiculously and it made Severus more exasperate.

 _Of course, my glare makes Sirius laugh! I have no respect_ , Severus thought bitterly as he tried to disentangle himself from the stupid sheets.

"Here, let me help you," Sirius said offering his hand to Severus, who accepted a bit reluctantly. When Sirius looked up to a standing Severus and saw the fire in his eyes, he was quick to apologize to Severus in order to calm the little beast before he'd suffer with its revenge. In the three months of get to know each other, he had never suffered one in their ever growing friendship, but he could only imagine what Severus could do when he was seeking revenge.

Sirius apology, though, fell on deaf ears.

"You'll be sorry", it was all Severus said to him, before heading to the bathroom to do his morning routine. Severus didn't know the hour, but if Sirius was waking him up, he probably overslept for about half an hour… But he wasn't too concerned though, they had a good hour to have breakfast and go to the Herbology class.

"Oh, come on, Severus!" Sirius whined as followed Severus to the bathroom. "I was just trying to wake you up..."

"You could have done it without me being thrown on the floor!" Severus replied drily.

"Well, I didn't throw you on the floor! It was an accident!" Sirius said, trying to defend himself. "Come on, let's not fight! I woke you up because I have an idea for a prank and I need your help!"

" _You what_?" Severus shouted from the shower stall.

"We are going to replace the Halloween decorations for Samhain's! No one is going to suspect us! But we need to start making them now, we have two hours and half before classes starts!" Sirius explained excitedly at the other side of the stall. He was already dressed and ready to go around Hogwarts doing his biggest prank ever. He had trained a lot to be able to transfigure objects without a specific spell, using the most generic one, but making it powerful with Severus and he wanted to use his new knowledge with his friends today.

Severus apparently wasn't sharing his excitement, because when he next spoke, his voice was as cold as the weather outside. "What I want to know is if you woke me up to _just_ help you if your _prank_ …" Severus asked slowly after shutting off the shower. "What time is it, Sirius?"

Sirius winced instead of replying and tried to leave the bathroom silently.

" _Sirius_!"

.o.

Severus ended up promising to not plan revenge on Sirius after the boy explained to him in _details_ why he thought of doing the prank. Saying he was just too excited about presenting the wizarding traditions to Severus and his poor self couldn't have much imagination beyond what his brain used for pranks. Severus obviously didn't believe in a single word, but his curiosity was just too great to ignore. For a week he had seen a note on the common room announcing the Samhain celebration for the slytherins, but he didn't have an idea what was going to happen and hated when people talked about and he couldn't understand half of it. He knew the basics, obviously, but not enough to really understand it and that's why he bribed Sirius into explaining everything to him, because if Sirius wanted to change the Halloween decorations for Samhain ones, Severus wanted to know everything.

Secretly, Severus would have participated in the pranks without Sirius explanation as a payback, because they were going to cast tons of transfiguration spells and all of them were going to be tricky and difficult. Severus just couldn't pass the opportunity to train his magic. James, Remus and Sirius were also doing a really good progress in transfiguration and charms with Severus help and Professor McGonagall and Flitwick guidance. So all of them were going to test now their transfiguration abilities with this prank.

Please, take a minute to digest the information that Severus Snape does pranks now. They are usually to help practice his DADA skills with his friends, but they are still pranks. What a strange to world to live, isn't it?

Anyway, today's Halloween, or Samhain, has been the most different Severus has ever had. From the moment he truly woke up, after some relaxing time in the shower, he started to feel the magic around him as he had never felt before. An old sort of magic, surrounding him and the entire castle like a whisper. The curious thing about it though, is that he could really feel like the magic was whispering to him, carrying a secret that held all of the answers of the universe, but never speaking loud enough to be understandable. It annoyed him greatly, but as he was getting used to Sirius and James childish behavior, he could say that there are annoyer things in the universe... And the magic was really powerful and it felt brilliant, leaving him energized and ready to thrown Hogwarts into chaos along with James, Sirius and Remus.

When Severus and Sirius arrived at the Great Hall, James, Remus and surprisingly Lily, were already there waiting for them by the Ravenclaw's table. Apparently, Sirius had told them about the prank, but had forgotten to tell Severus.

"What are you two up to?" Lily asked with suspicious on her eyes after hearing Sirius and James giggling like two mad children.

Severus turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Don't you know their plans for today?"

"No," Lily answered shaking her head, before asking with a disapproving tone. "Are they going to prank someone?"

"No, we are planning to prank the entire castle!" Sirius whispered excitedly, smirking at her. "Do you want to join us? I promise it's not something bad… For some people at least."

Lily didn't immediately refuse, as Severus thought she would, she slowly narrowed her eyes at Sirius, but be before she could talk, Sirius continued. "We are going to replace every single Halloween decoration for Samhain ones, at least the ones that we can find, because they are hidden until the dinner starts, so we are going to hunt them!"

"But why you don't want the Halloween ones? I'm sure that the dinner will be much better with them... "Lily said frowning.

"We don't have Halloween in our world, we have Samhain so we-" Sirius started saying, but Lily interrupted him.

"Wait, you don't have Halloween? So why are we going to celebrate it tonight? And what about Samhain? I have never heard about it!"

"My mother said that it's for the muggleborn to feel more at home," James answered. "As Samhain and Halloween are similar, but definitely not the same, Hogwarts prefers to celebrate Halloween."

"The purebloods and most of the half-bloods don't like it, so they have their own Samhain celebrations in their common room…" Sirius explained shrugging. "I personally don't care which one, I was going to participate in both parties anyway, but I want to change because I know it's going to be fun to do it…"

"But it doesn't make sense," Lily protested. "We muggleborn should be learning more about the wizarding world! I want to know what Samhain is!"

Severus eyed Lily for the minute of silence that followed before saying, "Well, Sirius and James are going to explain to me about Samhain before breakfast, "Severus said informing her, not ashamed to say that he didn't know something. "If you want to join you are welcome."

James eyes brightened at Severus suggestion. "Join us, Lily! After we explain to the two of you, we are going to try to see the best decoration we can use and turn them into games like pin the snitch on the seeker's hand or the pin the hippogriffs tail and if you can control your magic well, you can play the unlit torch bowling... We can do a lot of things!"

Lily looked interested and soon she was agreeing to join them in their mad plan. However, not even half an hour later, she got really upset after hearing from James that she and the other muggleborns were excluded from the private Samhain celebrations. Because like the other houses, Gryffindor also has their own celebration, except they don't invite muggleborn and most of the half-bloods to join them.

Severus wasn't obvious like Sirius, James and Remus, though. He saw right through why Lily was so upset… She wasn't thinking about the _other_ muggleborns or half-bloods, she was upset because _she_ wasn't invited even being friends with all of the pureblood girls. Well, to be fair, Severus would have been upset too if he discovered that Sirius was planning to join Slytherins secret party and didn't even tell him about it. Still, he wasn't going to admit that he would be too upset about it, he was happy to just call bullshit on Lily's concern for the other muggleborns.

Remus showed them the main places that they would focus and put games and other fun stuff like hair coloring pranks and places to put the transfigured decoration. And only after a small lecture from him, Sirius and James agreed to do some more serious transfigurations and really make symbolic objects of the celebration like placing four Feast of the Dead tables on the end of each house table, some blessed torches and bonfires and some more significant stuff. By the time they ended, breakfast was halfway through, so they rushed back to the Grand Hall to eat a good meal because they would have a long day ahead.

.o.

Unfortunately, Severus doesn't share classes with the Gryffindors on Fridays, but they share the same free period at the afternoon so he'll have to wait to start the pranks. After breakfast, his first class was a relatively slow-paced Herbology class, he chatted with Lucinda, Sirius and some Hufflepuff boys while learning the correct way to harvest the most common potion ingredients. The weird thing though, was that Davey Gudgeon wasn't being his usual cheerful self. Why pray tell, Severus had paid attention to this detail? Well, firstly, the boy is _always_ too happy and cheerful, annoyingly so sometimes. Secondly, because the boy would turn his head away too quickly when their eyes met or when Severus caught him looking at him. If this wasn't a suspicious behavior… He tried to talk with Davey when they were cleaning themselves after class, everyone still using the spell that Severus hat taught them, but even them the boy escaped before Severus could finish greeting him. Definitely something's wrong, he needs to talk with the boy on their charms class for sure.

History class with its glacial pace, did nothing to help Sirius excitement and anxiety. Severus successfully distracted Sirius for the entire class studying with him a silencing bubble charm that you could cast on someone and they wouldn't hear or produce any sound until countered or fade on its own after a day. They only had some minutes left before class finishing when Sirius cast the charm on the professor's head, silencing him completely, making everyone around them gasp and Sirius laugh maniacally.

"He's going to notice, Sirius! Finite the charm!" Bertram Aubrey yelled at Sirius furiously. "He's going to blame the entire class if-"

"Spoilsport," Sirius sneered before casting a _Finite Incantatem_ , he looked at Severus with a big pouting face.

"Well, you can cast on him outside of the class…" Severus suggested not bothering to be on the correct side this time. The entire class studied with the textbook while trying to ignore Professor Bing's voice, during the classes anyway. Silencing his voice would only help them keep studying with more concentration… Fortunately, the ghost didn't notice anything, he just kept talking like nothing happened.

When Severus went to Charms class, he saw Davey already sitting on his usual place, right beside Professor Flitwick feet, and he went to talk with the boy. Who, as expected from his late behavior, turned his blushing face quickly when he saw Severus approaching him.

"Hi, Davey, everything's alright?" Severus asked not beating around the bush.

Davey blushed like a bright beetroot, before nodding his head and finally looking, although sheepishly, at Severus. But he still didn't say a word to him, making Severus frown at the boy.

"Are you sure, Davey?" Severus asked. "You are kind of acting weird… So I got… You know, concerned about you…"

Davey's eyes widened, his face becoming even redder. "Are you concerned about _me_? Truly?"

Severus bit his lip, not wanting to admit such a thing again, already regretting having said it once... He couldn't believe he was in this kind of situation! Still, if he was already there, he might as well finish the conversation. "It doesn't matter, Davey," he said softly. "Are you well or not? You are not acting like yourself."

Before Davey could answer his question though, Lucinda appeared by his side and dragged him top the other side of the classroom ignoring when he tried to go back to the Hufflepuff.

"Why did you do that?" Severus hissed at the girl as he sat between her and Sirius, who was looking at him curiously, but Severus ignored him.

"It's me who should be asking question! The poor boy was going to explode if he turned a shade darker!" Lucinda whispered with a strange tone on her voice. Severus had to look at her to realize she was just amused by all this. He looked back at Gudgeon and had to admit that the kid looked a little purple. Severus was definitely sure that something was going on with the boy.

"I was just trying to be a decent person," Severus said annoyed, looking back at his cousin, just in time to see her and Sirius snickering at him, making Severus want to hex their faces off!

It took time to concentrate on the Professor Flitwick's lecture, but by the half of the charms class, Severus had already forgotten about the embarrassing situation and was concentrating on his charms practice. They had started to study the _Incendio_ charm last class, so today everyone would get to practice. Flitwick informed them that the classroom was heavily warded against fire and any furniture would not burn or explode, they only need to pay attention and not point their wand to each other. Severus, already having all the first year charms perfected, got a different assignment than the others. Instead of only lightning a candle, he was given a bubble glass bottle with three candles inside of it and he would need to find a way to lit of the three candles at the same time with only one _Incendio_ being cast. On top of that, he would use a cutting charm to carve a restorative rune that Flitwick had copied for him on the three candles without cutting the glass around them.

Severus eyes were glowing when Flitwick gave him the special challenge. He was so excited to try to complete his challenge. He had an idea what to do already, but he would need to practice to perfect the cutting charm. Thinking about that, he copied five times his glass with the candles for trial and test, making Sirius look at him with envy. Because he was required to first finish the practice with the rest of the class before attempting to join Severus. Of course, he wasn't as interested as Severus in doing that just for purpose of research or because it would useful for him, but it was interesting enough to keep him busy and improving his magic instead of just wasting time.

When class was wrapped up, Severus and Sirius didn't waste a minute before heading to their designed area to start the hunt for the hidden decoration in the great hall to transfigure it into new ones. For that, they had spell a thick layer of _Notice-Me-Not_ charm on them and had to work quickly because there are always dozens of students coming and going or just hanging in the Great Hall and they kept bumping into them even when they tried to dodge another student.

It was already dinner time when the two of them met with Lily, Remus and James. All of them were exhausted, both their magic and bodies were feeling the burden of spending hours using magic. But it was totally worth it, because their prank was a success.

Dozens of people had their hairs colored with the most bright and obnoxious colors. People with multi colored skins or hair were walking sputtering mad or laughing along their friends. The prank was really simple, they only needed to curse an object once and every time someone touched, or walked over it, they would be cursed, the spell was purely cosmetic and easy to cast.

There were also lots of people playing the games on the corridors leading to the Great Hall and near the common rooms. The young years loved simple games while the older enjoyed the pumpkin dummies, cursing them hell and back to only see them come back again. They were close at casting a _Fiendfyre_ to destroy the pumpkins. Severus did know if the rune he had just learned with Flitwick would hold against the magical fire. But he certainly didn't want to stay there to verify.

What not everyone counted was the reaction of the professors. They all were a little stunned, except for Dumbledore. He didn't look amused or astonished at all.

When the clock finally hit six o'clock, Dumbledore raised from his seat and stood with a somber air that got most of the students confused. Those who didn't recognize the Samhain traditions, didn't think nothing out of the changes and the ones who recognized didn't think it was a prank, but Hogwarts really taking an interest on keeping the traditions, Severus guessed. He had observed the reaction from his house and all of them seemed pleased with the changes.

"If there is one thing that Hogwarts values most is unity," Dumbledore started his speech, apparently not caring about cordiality. "Unity can not be brought together by segregation nor by the imposition of one's belief. The responsible for this act against Hogwarts values will be severely punished, detention being just the smallest part of their punishment. I am sorry for not being happy at this moment that should be spent celebrating. But I must tell to whoever did this, please think about your muggleborn and half-blood colleagues before doing such an act."

 _It's pure non-sense_ , Severus thought, completely shocked.

Dumbledore paused his speech, scanning the Great Hall with his serious face, but still with his ever twinkling eyes. He raised his hands and clapped twice, instantaneously making all the Samhain decorations disappear. A second pair of clapping later, a new set of Halloween decorations appeared on its place and it was only then that Dumbledore smiled and went back at being his cheerful self. "Enjoy this Halloween celebration my dears, have a good dinner and happy and fun night!"

The deliciously smelling food appeared on the five tables of the Great Hall. But not a single one student ate from it, they were just baffled and shocked to react. But little by little, the students silently started to eat their dinner. Whispers traveled through the Hall, no one dared to raise their voice and breaking the horrible silence that settled.

Not five minutes later, Lily rose from her seat.

.o.

Severus secretly smiled to himself as he watched Lily sit while the people around her congratulated and cheered at her. She was turning out a much intelligent person than he had giving her credit for. Gryffindors were known to have the courage of a lion, but courage did not give anyone wise words.

The Slytherin and Ravenclaw table was whispering to themselves while Hufflepuff was still cheering and talking loudly with the Gryffindors. The staff table it was the only table to remain in silence and Severus could bet that half of them would like to see the Samhain decorations back and the other half did not want to admit that themselves were not adapted to old wizarding traditions. Dumbledore also didn't react at the student's commotion and started eating his dinner and talking with the professor like every other day, making Severus become a little pissed at him and his attitude. But no matter, Severus will not concern himself over Dumbledore reasons to be a killjoy, Sirius would probably give him a dozen.

The rest of the dinner was uneventful, but the purebloods and some half-bloods were excited to start their own celebrations. To his surprise, Sirius, who didn't want to come to the Slytherin celebrations said that he was sorry again for not going to the celebrations with him, but he decided that he would instead join James and Remus at the Gryffindor's. Severus wasn't upset at all by the news, he wanted Sirius to keep participating in the traditions even if they weren't together.

To the surprise of no one, Evan Rosier was the one to literally hold his hand through the ritual like celebration. Of course he was grateful for this, but Merlin, he wished that Evan would just forget about him. After witnessing two other instances of bullying, Severus was convinced that Evan was just another bully out there preying on the weaker… But no matter how cold and venom-tongued Severus was at him, Evan never relented and often laughed at his attempts. However, Evan was never mean or bullied him in the dozens of times that Severus tested him, telling bits about his poor childhood or making fun of his appearance, going as far as contradict him saying that Severus has his qualities and a beauty of his own! To say that Severus was frustrated… So Severus just accepted his fate while it last, he did not want to make an enemy and would let Evan's friendly attitude die on its own.

On the next day, everyone was still talking about the prank and a lot of people were openly talking about their private Samhain celebrations. It was fun to see that a lot of girls kept their bright colored hairs, even Lucinda who cherished her dark curls, loved her purple curls even more. She said she would keep the color until she would have to go back home. After mentioning her house, the subject of Severus family was brought into discussion again. They argued for almost an entire month when finally, when December came, she had invited him to spend the Yule holidays with the family to meet them, but not necessarily telling them who his mother is. Too terrified to meet anyone, Severus refused on the spot, saying a dozen of benefits to him to spend his Yule in school.

Lucinda tried to convince him, but to no avail. She compromised to keep the secrete from their family, but they would to make a deal with her. He has one year to prepare and adapt, because then on the next Yule, he will go with her and tell their family the truth.

Reluctant, Severus agreed with Lucinda.

 **~o~**

Being in the same house as Sirius, it made Severus study with him a lot more than with the Gryffindors in their group. But one thing that usually left uncomfortable was Sirius constant compliments. He is always impressed in the long list of spells that Severus knew already. Then he's saying how beautiful Severus handwriting is, and then how his hair was long and soft… Like _what_?! It really made Severus uncomfortable, but he guessed that it was what friends did with each other. Complimenting to cheer them up… Probably.

As Severus reviewed the spells he already knew, he started to concentrate back in his mind palace. He didn't have time to try to search for _Occlumency_ as the sorting hat had suggested to him. But he kept himself in practice, always registering on his imaginary books entries for each spell and charm he encountered, listing the name, the correct pronunciation and the wands movements. So when he needs it he can practice and make it work like if practiced to get it right in the first place.

Uncomfortableness aside, Sirius and him had a good companionship. Aside from studying, they would band together with James and Remus and spend the day exploring the castle, reading near the lake, illegally flying with their broomsticks under heavy layers of notice-me-not charm when the weather let them.

It was the day before the Christmas Holidays that he realized that he had not sent a single letter to his mother not had she sent one. Around him, he could see the amount of letter that Sirius received from his presents as all the other boys from Slytherin.

Well, in his and his mother defense, neither had an owl to communicate. But differently from his mother, he could borrow one. Not wanting to lose his courage He promptly asked to Sirius if he could borrow his.

Sirius, as expected, agreed to lease his owl to him, but when he asked Severus if he knew he could use one of the school owls, Severus could only shake his head. He didn't know and nobody had said it to him…

Severus is not ready to forgive his mother for her neglect. But she's still his mother, so soon after breakfast, be wrote a simple letter to Eileen telling her about almost everything that has happened. And even put a sorry at the end of not knowing that he could get a school owl to send a letter, immediately giving his letter to one of the school owls to send.

 **~o~**

After a lonely Christmas, not a single Slytherin and Gryffindor from the first year stayed, leaving him to his books, classes resumed and time kept moving fast.

He didn't receive a letter from his mother, but he wasn't expecting one either. So forgetting about his family problems, he concentrated solely on his studies and friendships. Nothing too incredible or notice worth happened on the last months of his first year. Well, aside from the pranks that James and Sirius pulled, but compared to their Samhain prank, the rest was quite mild. Talking about that Samhain/Halloween prank, things were still turbulent between houses. After Lily speech, most of the Slytherins ignored her words, but the rest of the houses started to openly discuss more traditions and discuss them with the muggleborns and half-bloods who were just as clueless as them. The actual benefit of the prank came with the Muggle Studdies Professor wanting to change the History Class curriculum so that everyone could study in dephe the wizarding traditions. However, Profesor Binns being the prick stubborn person that he was, refused any talk about the subject. In the end, nothing changed in their curriculums.

Controversies aside, Severus had developed a good professor and student relationship with Flitwick and Minerva and they often listened to him made suggestions to them. More than once one of his challenges were given as the month's project for the rest of the class and they would always ask for him for help that he would give promptly. To be honest, it annoyed him sometimes to be interrupted when he was in the library, but them they would compensations for his troubles. Like their pocket money, homemade sweets, interesting books… He didn't ask for any of this, but if they would give them to appease him, who was he to refuse?

The time to go back to his home was getting closer and Severus was getting more sad with each passing day. But as the last week arrived, he started to make food provisions. Simple things like rice and bread that he could preserve for a long time.

After the exams, in his last day inside Hogwarts. He finally found courage and went to ask Flitwick about the trace in their wands. Ask knowledge he had was guessed and the lies from Olivander, so he needed to know the truth.

Flitwick looked at him with a little of suspiciousness in his eyes, but he soon entered on his professor mode and explained to him. "Each wand has a trace until your seventeenth birthday. If you perform with your wand you'll be punished by the ministry with only one warning, but by third you get your wand snapped." Flitwick said sternly. "Rather than have each child spelled with a trace, our ministry has detection zones in its territory, so this way if a child from another country come here they would also get detected... But _why_ do you wish to know about this?"

"Just curious professor," Severus answered calmly and shrugged. He couldn't tell that he was a clueless as a muggleborn because he would get suspicious about his knowledge. "My mother didn't want to talk to about this because she said it could give _ideas_ …"

The joke worked perfectly, Flitwick laughed heartedly. "She's a wise woman then! I only know you for a year and I know how creative and smart you can be!"

Severus smiled at the professor, his chest getting warn as he felt recognized and _seen_. "Thank you, professor. See you next year."

After Professor Flitwick saying his goodbyes, Severus headed to the Slytherin dorms to look at his bedroom one more time to see if he was forgetting something. Inside of the room, Sirius was still packing his clothes in the messiest way that Severus could ever think. So he went to help his friend finish it so they would not get late.

"Do you promisse that we are going to meet at the Diagon Alley?" Sirius asked for the fourth time just that morning. "I'll die if I stay alone the entire summer with my family!"

Severus rolled his eyes. "I already said that I would... But if you insiting in being a annoying bug I'll certainly reconsider. I have better thing to do."

"You wouldn't, Severus!" Sirius whined. "Ok, I get it. I'll not ask again. But I just need to reaffirm to you that you are needed to train quidditch with us. Me and James will train a lot harder this summer so we can get into the team next year!"

"I know," Severus smiling a little at his friend. "I'll help you your training and you guys will study with me. That's the deal."

Out of nowhere, Sirius was hugging him hard against his chest.

"I'll miss you!" Sirius said in a whisper.

Severus laughed at Sirius antics, not hugging back, but he let him have his chick moment. "I'll find a way to write to you."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes, Sirius. I promise," Severus said, feeling annoyed at Sirius again. " _Story of my life,"_ he thought, before smiling again.

* * *

Next chapter we will progress into Severus teenage years.

So did you like the chapter? I'm sorry for the wait! I hope that I can keep writing like I'm right now and don't get stressed again.

See you hopefully soon!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes:** When I thought about writing this fanfic I was sure that I could fit each Hogwarts year in one chapter, now I know it's very hard to do it. This chapter would be at least 10k if I tried to write the entire second year. So I judged that a 4k chapter was good to represent half of it. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **CHAPTER 11**

 **~o~**

When Severus arrived at the King's Cross station after his first year at Hogwarts, he grabbed his trunk and literally flew from the train as fast as he could. He searched for his mother in every corner of the station but he quickly came to the conclusion he had feared: his mother did not come to pick him up. Fortunately, he had already said his goodbyes to everyone he considered a friend, because he didn't want anyone finding out that differently from them, there was no one waiting for him with big smiles and tight hugs… Finding out that he would need to go home alone.

Severus didn't let himself dwell in that depressing thoughts, though. He took a train to home without problems, no one batting an eyelash as he bought a train ticket alone or even when he was seen inside the train. Adults couldn't care less for a random kid that they didn't have an obligation to, Severus knew that as a fact.

A couple of hours later, he walked from the train station to his house in a quick pace because it was already late and the streets were left mostly empty. Well, he wasn't afraid, but he was not an innocent child either, he knew he needs to be alert for suspicious adults, so he keeps a quickly pace.

Exhaustion started to kick in, as the walking got close to an hour. He was a bit lucky, though. His trunk had the necessary charms on it so he could put in his left pocket with just a touch of his wand, weightless. But Lord Sneaky, who was dozing off in his miniature self in his right pocket, didn't have a featherweight charm in himself. And by now he was sure that the cat weighed at least 10 stones! So heavy! But no matter what, he was not going to make his cat walk beside him. Because after all the tossing him around in his pocket plus the loss of his liberty, Sneaky was going to be the most cranky cat of the world. Inside Hogwarts, the poor cat had the entire castle to explore with his cat buddies and unlimited food. Now he would be locked in Severus' bedroom for the next months with numbered little meals… Sneaky will be hating him for sure by the end of the summer.

When Severus finally approached the end of his street, he was surprised to see his mother standing in the front door. But again, she wasn't like the other parents with big smiles on their faces and arms ready to hug. Her face was devoid of emotions. Well, scratch that, she looked sad, but Severus was a little too pissed to notice that.

"I'm sorry, Severus. But I didn't have money to take a train," Eileen said so low that he thought she was whispering.

Severus looked up and confronted her with their gaze locked. "You could have apparated, you could have used a portkey. Or you could have just worked in Diagon Alley or in muggle shops and then got money to take a train to pick me up… There's a lot of 'could have's, mother." Severus hissed, angry with her. "But most of them includes magic. Something too terrible for you, isn't it? Is this why you married a muggle that hates magic? So you could avoid the wizarding world?"

Severus wasn't surprised that Eileen was speechless after his rant, looking at him with a shocked expression.

"I'm tired and I wish to sleep. Have a good night." Severus said as went behind his mother to open the front door. He felt a hand squeezing his shoulder, but he mother said nothing.

As I knew she wouldn't, Severus thought bitterly.

In his bare and silent room after months of Hogwarts' comfortable dorm and Sirius endless chatting, he felt alone and inexplicably sad. He knew that the eerie silence would end when his father arrived, but it still made him uncomfortable. He played a little with Sneaky and after eating a sandwich he packed from Hogwarts for dinner, he soon fell asleep in his bed.

He slept dreamless that night.

.o.

In the first week of his vacation, his mother had tried to have a conversation with him twice, but he was still too raw to talk with her. Three weeks later, when Severus finally had courage to talk to her, she didn't reply any of his questions. Severus was definitely getting sick from this relationship with his mother. So instead of staying at home when he was not studying, he went for walks to practice his magic on the park. He missed the trees from there and the easy way he could connect his magic to them.

He was also with his mother's wand so he could enjoy a lot more when he was having picnics on the park. One of those times, Lily had come across him and decided to join him even if Severus hadn't invited her, but he didn't care much and divided his food with her while they talked about Charms and Potions. She was much better than before she started Hogwarts and he could say that he enjoyed her company from time to time.

He sent a letter to James and Sirius saying basically the same things, but the answers were completely different. While James choose to focus about Quidditch, Sirius focused on his family problems. And that's what made Severus invite him to go the Diagon Alley with him to eat and get away from his family for a while.

Severus needed money for that, though. So for a week he worked on selling newspapers, the good part was the he got 100% of profit on his sells. Well, seeing that he had stolen the newspaper to sell in the first place… No need to mention that to anyone!

Well, doesn't matter. He collected money enough to buy his tickets and a meal in the Alley. Fortunately, his job wasn't too tiring, he continued to do it so he could buy his Hogwarts materials for his second year without much problem like the last.

Sirius was as gloomy as he thought he would be. He explained to Severus that his family was backing the new Dark Lord with resources and this made Sirius really mad at them. His parents weren't supposed to back up a murderer, but they were and it made his life miserable. He kept thinking about how many people they were helping to murder and there wasn't a single night that he didn't have nightmares.

Severus' family drama was much easier to live, Severus decided after hearing Sirius talk for a long while. But after voicing all his problems and depressing feelings, Sirius got to cheer up over ice cream, laughing freely like he did when in Hogwarts. Severus always smiled back him, happy that he could make Sirius forget his problems for a while.

Some weeks later, Severus had to spend money on tickets again because James and Sirius insisted on him coming to James house to play Quidditch and he had promised Sirius before the summer break. He went despite having better things to do like reading the new edition of a potions magazine he stole got from the Diagon Alley… But no! He had friends now and he would honor his compromises. It was a funny day and he got to eat that delicious food at the Potter's manor.

Tobias, uncharacteristically, stayed clear from Severus. He would yell at Eileen over something, but he never raised his hand or voice to Severus. It was as if Severus had disappeared, completely forgotten by Tobias.

Severus didn't know what he should feel. Happy to be forgotten or even more sad, because his father was ignoring him… For now, he enjoyed the piece that it brought.

In August, Severus made his shopping alone at the Diagon Alley. Eileen was visibly relieved when he said that he wouldn't need her to go with him. Severus now knew the reason: she didn't want to be recognized for someone. What she didn't know, is that wouldn't matter anyway because Severus was going to meet his family this year at Yule break. So he left to Diagon Alley to buy some materials that he still doesn't have.

As he had predicted last year, with good care to his "original" wardrobe, he could keep stretching and making copies of them as he grew up. His clothes despite looking the same, being the same, all appeared clean and new, making Severus feel really nice and not a mouse when talking to the older Slytherins from noble families.

This year he would only need to buy three school books and new writing material, but instead of spending his money on new things instead of second hands, he paid a fee to Gringotts and opened an account with what's left of his money: 3 galleons and 15 sickles. He would start saving for when he left his home to go to study for his Masters.

Did you think that someone like Severus wasn't already planning their future? Because he certainly is and if his plan go as he wants, he'll be the youngest Potions Master of Europe. Or maybe the youngest Defense Against the Dark Arts Master… He doesn't know which he'll do first, but he'll do both, sir. He will!

. o.

Severus went alone to King's Cross. His mother hugged him tight against her chest, kissed both of his eyebrows and gave him the money for at least three tickets and Severus knew then that next year she wasn't going to wait for him again. Swallowing his disappointment, he hugged her back and said his goodbyes, he ignored his bad feelings for now because he was going back to Hogwarts!

He arrived thirty minutes before the train's departure time and he waited a little if he could catch a glimpse of one of his friends to enter the train together. He didn't find any of them, instead he saw Lucinda and her parents, Alestrina e Fergus Talkalot. They were as imposing as he thought they would. He observed how calmly they talked to each other for a while. He wondered if Eileen would be like that if she hadn't run away from the wizarding world.

Fortunately, when he boarded the train, the same compartment he had used twice now was free so he quickly entered it and got comfortable on his seat to wait for his friend. Because soon they would come.

. o.

After the first two weeks of classes and homework already starting to pile up, people started to reach for him again about getting his help to do their homework. The first ones he helped freely, not minding at all, but then they started to crowd him everywhere and anywhere. Not giving him an ounce of privacy.

Sirius and James started to mind the extra companies because they couldn't plan their next prank in front of their own targets or telltales... The situation pushed Severus into weeks of stress and when the time for the first exams approached, the situation worsened. But by then he had gotten a plan to stop people from coming to him all the time: he established a price, one galleon per one hour of his exclusive help in everything they wanted his help with.

It didn't work.

In the first week, he accumulated ten galleons. His peers were a bit stunned at first when Severus denied free help. The first ones were hesitant, but they paid and got an hour of tutoring.

On the next week, the week before the exams, people already knew the deal and they came prepared. Groups of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs came to him to help tutoring. He profited 50 galleons.

Feeling a bit guilty for charging them, he wasn't too restricted on the time. So usually he leased himself for about one and half hour. But he wasn't a saint either, and after an hour and half, they had to pay him again if they wanted to keep studying with him.

He also had very strict rules. He wouldn't do people's essays, projects or homework. He would do everything so they would learn and be able to do it themselves instead of relying on him. Most of the people hated, but rest of them gladly accepted his tutoring methods.

After a while, the talk about him tutoring the students for money arrived at the teachers. But the only one who talked to him was Flitwick, but he wasn't mad... He called Severus an entrepreneur! Flitwick had gone as far as congratulate him after the exams. All houses had received house points because the second years had had the highest scores in all if their exams that Hogwarts had ever seen!

Severus had preened like a peacock for days. He felt so good for achieving this!

Lucky for him, his friendship didn't have to suffer because of all the time spending helping the others. Sirius and James were obsessively training to enter the Quidditch team this year and Remus would always stay with him on the library. To optimize his time, he would write some essays and quizzes and this way he could pass the same information to everyone and he would gain some time to do his own studies during tutoring.

Predictability, but still an awesome accomplishment, James and Sirius had joined the Quidditch team. Unfortunately, for both Remus and Severus, they demand their presence on their matches. Even if they pass the time studying more than paying attention to the game or training, they needed to be there "rooting" for them.

You can imagine how happy Severus was with that…?

Of course, he was very happy, you muggle. He loved to support his friends! Did you think otherwise?

.o.

As the days passed, Samhain started to approach again, making every single student giddy. His friends were excited for the pranks, the rest of the students… They were also waiting for the pranks!

Don't try to understand it. They call it Stockholm Syndrome or something…

The matter is, every single student was waiting for the day no matter their reasons. One of them was that each house was going to have a Samhain celebration. People were preparing for the celebrations and the "after party" for weeks now and this steered curiosity on the first-year students, mainly muggleborns. They started doing him to give them a "class" about the wizardry celebration when they couldn't find about it on the library and were too shy for ask. Severus had gained a lot of knowledge about the master since last year, so he agreed to do it and he even made it free. He was not going to charge for something that they should know, but the teachers had failed them.

When the day finally arrived, James, Sirius, Remus and Severus went on a hunt for each piece of Halloween decoration. Dumbledore, the boys discovered, had done a good job at protecting the them. He had put monitoring and tracking charms, protection spells and all sorts of things like sticky charms to make the decorations stay in place.

However, Dumbledore, it seemed, was still underestimating Severus.

Together with his ever growing list of spells and charms inside his own head, he disarmed each monitoring and tracking spell, passed under the protection spells like it was nothing, cast dozens of Finites and after an entire of work, they had again transfigured each item to appear to be for Samhain instead of Halloween.

Take that, Dumbledore!

People cheered so loud when they the Great Hall transfigured again that even the professors laughed. Sirius cried actual tears when he saw Dumbledore's red face as he looked at the beautifully transfigured decoration.

It was so worth it!

Severus went to sleep giggling madly. Mulciber, their pain in the roommate, had even congratulated them and did not care for Severus and Sirius noisiness like usual.

.o.

"Did a dementador walked by here while I was showering?" Mulciber asked looking at Severus and Sirius' gloomy faces.

"Worse, I'm going to spend Yule on Sirius' house," he said saying he was going to die.

Mulciber chuckled and shook his head at Severus. Sirius grinned and shrugged his shoulders at Mulciber, who shook his head again and left the room.

As their roommate left, Severus sighed and laid on his bed again, looking very tired.

"Everything is going to be alright, Severus," Sirius said trying to sound confident, but he wasn't very good at it. Poor guy never learned on how to be a comforting person.

"We all know that it's not going to be alright," Severus said emotionless. "At least Lucinda will stop talking about it. She's driving me crazy already! Sometimes I wonder if she ever considers my feelings at all,"

"She's a b-i-t-c-h, Severus."

Severus made a face when Sirius said that. "Well, she's my only cousin. And don't say she's a bitch. She's just more interested in my grandparents knowing about that my mother is alive than the consequences that this will have for me," Severus said defending Lucinda.

"Severus, I have cousins and I know that there's always a bitch cousin in a family. Besides, I have seen the way that she talks to you about your 'family'... Don't lie to me, sweet cheeks," Sirius said, grinning from ear to ear. "Now seriously, finish your packing, we need to go in ten minutes."

Severus, even if still a little reluctant, went back at packing his things on his bag. He selected only his best clothes knowing that Sirius' family was all about formality… And blood purity, which he doesn't have at all and he'll try to compensate it with formality, education and etiquette. They were very, very reluctant to accept him to come to spend the summer with Sirius at their house, but it was crucial for Severus to go.

He was going to meet his grandparents.

For that to happen he only had two choices: stalked them around the wizarding world and find a situation in which he could get to know them or attend a pureblood party. Not being pureblood and impossible to stalk anyone, Severus had only one route, go with Sirius to be in the place where the party would occur without needing to be invited.

That's how Severus Snape went to spend the summer on the Black Manor.

.o.

It was awkward. As it was boring, and scary.

After the first contact, they ignored Severus for days. The only person that Severus talk to beside Sirius was his brother, Regulus Black. Regulus was brilliant and loved to teach him everything that he asked him to. Sirius was visibly jealous for a while, but he had to accept because Severus was having none of that jealousy crap.

It was two days before the Yule celebration that Severus had received some bad news. His grandparent, Canute Prince was coming to have dinner with the Blacks along Lord Carrow and Lord Greengrass. Unsurprisingly, Severus panicked, but with Sirius help and lots of deep breaths he was able to arrive at the table without looking pale as a ghost.

When the invited Lords, friends of Lord Black, arrived, there were a little small talk before the Lords and Lady Black came to the dining table, where Sirius, Regulus, Lucinda and Severus was already sitting and talking in whispers. When the Lords arrived, they were made briefly aware of Severus presence. When they heard his name, both Lords, Greengrass and Carrow made a scornful face that made Severus' blood boil with anger, but he was polite and greeted both of them with respect. The only good thing was to see that his grandfather wasn't sneering at him. He only looked curious, but nothing else.

The dinner progressed quietly, the adults talking about politics while the children talked about Hogwarts.

The house elves had just collected their second course plates and was reading the table for the main course, when Severus felt someone stare at him. He discreetly looked around and widened his eyes when he saw his grandfather gazing at him.

"So, young men, where do you come from?" Lord Prince asked, surprising Severus for being addressed, only making him more nervous. Lord Prince was not done though. "I've never heard a family called Snape. However, you are not only the second best student that Hogwarts had, but you are also tutoring students from years above yours."

Severus was shocked, so excuse him a little for asking while stammering a little, "How do you know, sir?"

Lord Prince's lips were curved up, yet, he didn't look like was doing something as plebeian as smirking.

"I'm a Hogwarts Governor," he explained simply. "Matters like students establishing trades inside the castle is something that the governors have to take a look at. From selling pens to tutoring as it's your case, we are called to discuss it when the professors and headmaster don't come to an agreement about the matter."

Severus swallowed dry.

He needed to think about his next words very carefully or he would leave this table today appearing to be a greedy opportunist.

"I started charging for my tutoring as in a way to discourage people from seeking me out," Severus said slowly trying to pass his honesty. "However, they didn't wish to stop the tutoring, so they kept paying me."

Lord Carrow sneered at him, not believing his words. "You sound like it's a chore to receive money."

Severus tried to stay completely calm, also trying to appear a little aloof. "Well, for better words, I'm selling my time. Because now, instead of progressing in my researches and experiments I have to start sacrificing some of my time to tutor, Lord Carrow. I deemed money compensations a good way enough to control how many people would seek my help and to compensate me for my time lost."

It was Lord Greengrass time to sneer at him, but when spoke he conceded. "Despite being a mudblood, you have enough cunning to be in the Slytherin House."

Severus wanted to murder Lord Greengrass. Very slowly.

"I'm a halfblood, Lord Carrow." Severus said calmly, staring at the man in the eye.

Sirius made a shushing sound to him, but at the time, Severus didn't even register that his friend tried to make him to shut up his prideful mouth.

"Still a mudblood, boy," Lord Carrow said openly laughing at him. Lord Greengrass and Lady Black snickered, but the rest of the table was quiet.

Lord Prince in the other hand, that so far hadn't expressed anything, seriously asked, "So which one of your parents educated you? I know that you are advanced in your studies. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall spoke highly of your grasp of magical theory and your innate ability to need only one try to learn a new spell. They talked hours about you, but no one of them knew about the teaching methods you received before coming to Hogwarts."

Severus felt his heart warm, knowing that his professors were proud of his achievements. Unfortunately, he needed to lie.

"My mother, sir. She's a pureblood and really skilled with potions. I'd help her brew while she explained about magic theory, herbology, potions... Everything she felt like teaching to me, she would and I'd soak the knowledge. I've always liked to study," he lied through his teeth.

"Sounds like a decent witch," Lord Black said, speaking for the first time. Sirius liked his father and Severus could see that the man was much better than Lady Black.

Severus smiled at him, "She is, sir," he said.

"If she's a pureblood like you say, what is her maiden name?" Lord Greengrass asked, making Severus mood sour again.

Severus really should have paid attention to Sirius, this discussion wasn't going to a good place.

"She always said that she wasn't from the main branch and that all her family from her side was dead. It's sad, I'd have liked to meet my family," Severus spoke conversationalist, trying to make the matter unimportant.

"Not an answer, boy," Lord Carrow said, calling him out.

"I very much doubt the true status about this pureblood mother," Lady Black said uninterested. "Let us change topics, my friends."

Everyone agreed with Lady Black, vehemently on Severus case, not like his opinion mattered anyway…

"What is the name of your mother, boy?" Lord Prince asked him, instead of engaging in the new topic.

"Why would want to know, sir?" Severus asked.

Dumb and suspicious question, he knew it. Don't judge him.

"Are you going to answer or not, boy?" Canute Prince asked impatiently.

Severus swallowed the lump on his throat before answering, "Eileen Prince, sir."

There was absolute silence for a second.

"What did you say?" Canute asked furiously, wand already pointing at Severus' face. As Severus kept silent, he shouted, "Speak, boy!

"My mother's name is Eileen Prince, sir" Severus said it louder, but not looking at the Prince Lord.

A loud crack sound was heard before all the glasses inside the dining room exploded.

* * *

Uuuuhh, damn.

Are you anxious to know what happens next? Board the anxious train with me. lol

So, as always I'd like to thank you, the people who reviewed last chapter: **usuihentai727, mellessil, Marylin Snape, biancaruth, two guests, tigerlily124, NatNicole and FireSenshi2**. You guys rock! You comments are my writing fuel, seriously. I get so much inspiration while reading comments! I'm really grateful for you sticking with me.

See you next chapter! I won't jinx it saying that it will be soon. but I hope it's soon! Love y'all!


	12. Interlude

Interlude

.o.

Eileen never believe in pureblood supremacy. It wasn't logical and it wasn't healthy for a small population to keep having children between themselves. She always suspected as much when she was just a child being fed the fallacies of how purebloods were superior and after meeting muggleborns at Hogwarts, she was sure that everything was just hippogriff shit.

When Eileen was seventeen, she fell in love with Julius Peterson. He was an adventurer, a people's person, he liked to party and drink until pass out. Julius was a muggleborn and half of Hogwarts hated to see how talented and brilliant he was.

They dated their whole seventh year. They had to keep it hidden because of her family, not even her friends knew about them.

When they graduated, her parents came to the ceremony and left just after it finished. They asked her to come with them, but she said she wanted to ride the Hogwarts express one last time. Truly, she wanted to have a last ride, but she never got do it.

Eileen never returned to the Prince Manor, she had run away with her beau and they explored the world. Of course, it wasn't an easy choice to leave everyone behind, but she wanted to live, really live, for a while before coming back at her duties as Lady Prince and start studying for her Potions Mastery. She planned on returning with Julius and marry him before her parents and friends.

For now, she wanted to live an adventure with Julius. And what an adventure it was, because for the girl who had not met any other country and had extremely protective parents, every new place she went it was like a whole different world.

They partied at every place they visited, drinking, drugging, having sex like bunnies everywhere... It was the best five months of Eileen's life.

But every tale as its own tragedy. Always.

A day before Eileen met Tobias, she had fallen off the top of a hotel's stairs that she and Julius were staying. She had panicked a bit after seeing her broken arm, but Julius had quickly rescued her and after a throughout scan, he mended everything that was broken, twisted and split.

He was calm, but when he looked at her medical scan… He became so nervous, that Eileen didn't even want to ask what he had saw there. She let him take care of her, because he trusted on his talent on healing magic. He did not disappoint, he treated her with care and patience. He was a precious boy.

The next day, they went to London to meet Julius' childhood friend, Tobias Snape.

Eileen met Tobias while they were partying, he was a stern looking muggle, but very easy to talk after a few drinks. Everyone was having a good time and Eileen was laughing almost hysterically because of alcohol and childhood stories Tobias was telling her.

Then everything went black.

When Eileen woke up next day, she looked at her boyfriend and felt something strange . She knew she loved him with everything she had, but something was amiss…

As she kept looking at his angular face, she saw the moment he started woke up. When he looked at Eileen the first thing he said was, "So are you really pregnant?"

Eileen was shocked, but then like a lightning, she knew that indeed she was pregnant. "I'm," she confirmed.

"We are going to live at my parents' old house. We've been traveling so far, but we need to settle down," he said with a emotionless voice.

Eileen tried to hold the tears that suddenly threatened to spill. There was silence for a long time, before she confessed, "I don't think I love you anymore," she said as tears fell from her face and soaked her pillow.

Tobias looked at her with dead eyes, that frightened her a bit, but she knew it was better to just ignore. She knew that he had a strange behavior.

"But we have a baby now and we need to take care of it…" She said looking at him, waiting for his answer.

Tobias turned his face away from her as he spoke, "Can't your parents help us?"

Eileen sobbed as she heard the question, "They disinherited when they discovered our relationship, Tobias, you know that. They are dead now, but I still can't have access to anything…"

"So it'll be just on me," Tobias said letting his resentment show. "Great."

.o.

When Eileen pregnant belly started to show, they were already installed on Tobias' parents old house. They shared the same bedroom, the same bed, but haven't touched each other since the day they discovered she was pregnant. They kissed once, when they married, and it felt so wrong that Eileen started to cry for their love that one they had but disappeared. The few people who were at the church, thought she was crying from happiness.

She was thirty weeks pregnant when Tobias suddenly looked at her and said that he had doubts that her child was his.

Eileen looked at him and wanted to deny it, wanted to say that since they met, she hasn't been with anyone beside Tobias. But… She couldn't do it, it was like a crazy feeling that made her doubt that her child was also Tobias'.

The resented looks started to appear since that day.

Eileen had to look away from them, if she didn't want to spend the rest of day crying.

She was broken woman.

Everyday she mourned, but she didn't know what she was missing. Not like it mattered anyway… Day by day she started to fade away. The once bright witch couldn't come out of her own misery. Tobias worked in two jobs and only came home to sleep, shower and eat.

Giving birth to Severus returned the life to her, but just a little. She was diagnosed with postpartum depression by the muggle doctors, but she didn't care at all because she was a witch. Wizards and Witches don't have muggle diseases.

But then, maybe she wasn't a witch anymore. She couldn't do the same level of magic as before. She got really tired after doing one simple spell and by each failed spell despair started to invade her mind. So when Severus was four, she locked all her things in the basement and never touched her wand again.

As the time passed, Tobias realized that Eileen never loved him, and in the day that little Severus had his first accidental magic, he started to resent the boy and magic, because it reminded him of Julius. His fucking childhood enemy that he hated so strongly that he shouted and fought and got drunk in pubs. He couldn't even remember why he hated him so much, it was just there. Making him sick every time he thought about him.

It was in one of his fury driven episodes that Tobias hit Eileen for the first time. It felt good to hurt her. To make her suffer as much as he felt himself hurting.

The next day, when he woke up hungover and sober, he threw up thinking about what he did. He promised himself that he would never do it again.

But it just became worse.

For years, his days were a haze of fury, drunkenness and sorrow.

It wasn't a life.

Until one day, the house was suddenly empty. Severus was away at his boarding school, but Eileen should be home like she usually was. But no, the house was empty. He went to his bedrom and all their wardrobe was empty. Even his clothes weren't there! As he looked around, he finally noticed that there was a strange object, a crystal ball, above a big trunk on top of his bed. Curious, Tobias touched the small crystial ball. Suddenly, his vision blacked out and he felt like his head was floating.

Then he lost consciousness.

* * *

Eileen's story... But what happened at the end?


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Notes:**

First, Imbolc will be mentioned in this chapter. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. Not a solstice or equinox, but I think that bored students like to celebrate the whole wheel of the year. More reason to party!

Second, about the Interlude, there were people who couldn't connect the gaps on **Eileen's story**. I'm going to write about it on the fic itself, but it'll only appear on chapter 14 or later, so I'll explain now to clear the doubts: Tobias Snape is NOT Severus biological father. Julius Peterson, a son of a b**ch muggleborn who was dating Eileen is Severus' real father. Remember the scene where Eileen fell? Eileen was pregnant with Julius' baby, Severus. Julius discovered this and instead of telling her, he put Eileen and his friend, Tobias, together, and tried to obliviate them making they think they were together and in love. As it's hard to master the mind arts no matter how talented Julius was, he didn't make a good job obliviating them and they knew that something was wrong. But they can't remember it, they felt inside they weren't in love because they knew they were just strangers. Both had a sad life because of Julius… Severus also suffered because of that. But where Julius is now? We don't know it yet.

That said, enjoy the chapter…

* * *

 **CHAPTER TWELVE**

.o.

A loud crack was heard before all the glasses inside the dining room exploded at once, showering everyone with tiny pieces of glass broken by Lord Prince's furious and uncontrollable magic lashing out.

"Reparo," Lord Black cast quickly with his deep voice unaffected by Canute's outburst. Immediately, all the crystals started to mend themselves back into their original state.

No one spoke a word, not even to try to make Lord Prince calm down.

As the repairing spell was in action, Severus could only stay frozen in his place, completely in shock. He stayed on his seat with widened eyes looking at Lord Prince, but he couldn't open his mouth to say something. He couldn't believe how idiot he was! Eileen Prince was his mother's maiden name! He should have said her marriedname! Canute would be suspicious of him, but he wouldn't discover the truth now. Today wasn't supposed to go like this!

Lord Prince, still visibly furious, was the first one to act. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before addressing Severus again. "Your mother, Eileen Prince, said that her family was dead?" he asked slowly trying to keep himself from shouting again. He looked at Severus for an answer, the boy could only nod his head, afraid to talk. "Snape," Prince said looking at Severus like he just realized something… "All this time, she left just because of a…"

Canute sobered up his expression before asking another question. "Did she marry a mudblood? Do not lie to me, Severus."

"She did, sir" Severus lied. She had married a muggle, but Lord Prince couldn't know that. If he knew, he would probably cast her out from the family instead of going to search for her and take her from Tobias like Severus wanted. "She's not happy with him. She has been depressed since I can remember." Severus said, hoping that the information would please him.

Lord Prince took another deep breath, closing his eyes for few seconds before focusing again on Severus. But just when Severus thought about filling the silence, Canute was already pointing his wand at Severus and casting a spell at him.

"Protego," Severus cast as quickly as he could, protecting himself from the unknown spell that had produced a bright copper light that came at him fast. Before he could lower his wand, the copper light was spelled at him for the second time. "Protego!"

And again.

"Protego!" Severus yelled as he jumped out of the chair, infuriated for being attacked.

Beside him, Sirius and Lucinda gasped, not expecting Severus to use and keep using an advanced shield charm to deflect Lord Prince's spell. The rest of the table was as surprised as them, but were old enough to be able conceal it. Canute Prince was visibly shocked, though. But he quickly recovered and looked at Severus with new eyes. As if only now he truly believed him to be the talented boy the professors talked about.

"I promise that the spell is not harmful," Canute said trying to make Severus calm down. "Please, you may sit down, Severus. I'll cast it saying the incantation," he warned before pointing his wand at Severus again and pronouncing that incantation loud this time, "Cognationem Revelio!"

Severus had just sat down when Lord Prince cast the spell on him. He had to restrain himself to not cast a shield to be protected from the spell, letting the copper light hit him in the chest. Even so, he still looked wary at the man when he felt his magic touch Severus'.

Everyone hold their breath, waiting for the spell's result. Severus, not knowing the spell, couldn't understand what the two threads of red smoke connecting his grandfather and himself by their right hand meant. But he had a pretty good guess, considering that he knew they were blood related.

For a minute, a graveyard silence was held by the adults at the table.

"Where have you lived?" Canute asked under a whisper, his face as white as a tablecloth.

"We lived in the Midlands in a town called Cokeworth. It's a muggle community and I know we have lived there since I was born," Severus replied and before Canute could talk he remembered something important, he wasn't supposed to know that she had been hiding herself from him. "Why are you asking questions about me and my mother, sir? I know my mother's maiden name is the same as yours, but she said that her family is dead."

Lord Prince looked at Severus in the eyes for a full minute, before frowning at the boy.

Severus felt a sudden headache right after, but he thought it was just stress, so he tried to not get distracted from the conversation. He was about to speak, when Canute turned his face to look at the head of the table.

"Lord Black, Lady Black, your invitation today has put an end a long search which I thought it would never end. For that, I'll be grateful until my last breath," Lord Prince said polite and formal, but he looked honest as he said his thanks. "However, to not disturb this fine dining further, perhaps I could make use of one of yours quiet offices?"

"I understand the need and I'll gladly invite you for another dinner," Lady Black replied as a good hostess would. "One of the house elves will show you to the house office."

A second later a house elf appeared beside Lord Prince, bowing his head at him.

Canute got up from his seat and after he said his goodbyes to the other two Lords, he asked Severus to follow him.

Severus looked at Sirius for a second before he got from the chair to follow the man. Silently, both of them followed the small house elf, who guided them to the main office. Lord Prince thanked the elf and made a gesture for Severus to seat on the office's settee. When Severus sat, Canute moved a chair and put it in front of where Severus was, before sitting on it.

"Could you show me a memory of your mother?" Canute asked softly. "I need to see her so I can confirm her identity."

Severus cocked his head as he looked at the wizard. "You don't need to confirm it by seeing my memories. The spell you cast on me already gave you the confirmation you needed."

Canute arched an eyebrow. "Are you familiar with the spell?"

"No, I'm not." Severus said honest and short. "But I've been studying Latin on my free time because I'm interested in spell craft, so I need to really understand the language." he explained.

"So, you know what it meant?"

"Yes," Severus lied.

Canute sighed, he looked at Severus again with a hint of sadness on his face. "Eileen isn't just my daughter, Severus. She's my lost daughter that I thought that I'd never would see her again. I don't know why she lied to you, but she ran away and we didn't have a way to find her sooner, I'm sorry." Prince said and waited for Severus reaction, as he was familiar to the story, he didn't have any strong reaction to it. Canute kept talking.

"After years of searching for her, me and my wife conceived another child and he became the official heir of the Prince Lordship, taking it from Eileen. This was the only change that occurred on the family's tapestry. Because her marriage was not a magical one, the family's tapestry didn't show to us that she had married and birthed a child. I never knew you were born, Severus. As your grandparent, I'd want to be a part in your life no matter Eileen's choices. You know that I have my beliefs, but you are my family."

Severus felt his eyes moisten with tears.

He tried to swallow the lump on his throat and try to say something, anything, to him. But he didn't feel prepared to talk with his grandfather right now. He was feeling conflicted on what to believe, he knew that Eileen's choices would matter and Canute wouldn't accept Severus so easily into the family like he was saying now.

"I don't want to talk about that," Severus said hating his small and vulnerable voice, but he just couldn't talk about this. All the time had to prepare to talk with his grandfather wasn't enough.

His grandfather was silent for a minute, before he asked softly. "I could visit you in Cokeworth and we could talk during the summer next year. How's that sound?"

Severus thought for a second, he ended deciding against it.

"I'll spend next summer in a friend's house," Severus lied shaking his head at Canute, but he might be able to talk to him next year. "I'll send you a letter."

Canute nodded at him with a hint of a mile on his lips, but his expression was still serious. "May I also send you letters? I'd like to get to know you, Severus. You are a brilliant and very talented child. I'll be very proud to call you my grandson when everything is sorted out."

Sorted out.

"Why not call me a grandson **now**?" Severus thought bitterly as he nodded his head at Canute, agreeing with him for appearance only. He would never say something like this to Canute ever, why bother trying to give the old man a lecture about prejudice? He would never listen to Severus. So, he said nothing.

And he felt like crying again when Canute squeezed his shoulder with a comforting grip before getting up from the chair, leaving the office and Severus alone inside it.

.o.

For the next couple of days Severus didn't have any news about anything related to his mother and the Prince Family. The Blacks weren't ignoring him anymore, but he was still a half-blood so he wasn't on theirs good list yet.

During Yule celebration, the Princes attended the Malfoy's so they didn't come to the Black's. Severus received three presents from them and small card, but nothing too personal was written on it. However, he could say that his grandfather had given some thought on his gifts. Two were rare books, one about Defense and the other one about Charms and the third present was a new, shiny and complete laboratory equipment for experimental potions brewing. Canute had really paid attention on noticing his favorite classes.

But it wasn't only his grandparents who sent gifts, he was showered with presents from almost everyone he knew. It was sweet in a way that the students he tutors send him yule gifts. He would never complain, he loved to receive presents! He lost count of how many caldron cakes he received! So delicious, all kinds of flavors! He had to spend extra days exercising after Yule... And that reminded him of James, he ended seeing him a lot of times with Sirius. They spend some days playing Quidditch for hours after doing homework.

This winter break was definitely the best one of his entire life. And after the situation with his grandfather, Sirius had been an incredible friend offering his shoulder so he could cry on it and then later comfort his fears.

.o.

On his first day, back at Hogwarts, he was surprised to receive a letter from Maryse Prince, his grandmother. She had sent him a short letter, introducing herself to him and then saying that his mother was rescued from her former home at Cokeworth and she was admitted to the St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and would remain there until she got better. He could write to her, but she made no guarantees of her replying because she would spend most of her time inside of the hospital and she couldn't receive letters while there.

After reading the letter he felt extremely happy for his mother. She was finally going to receive the help she needed to overcome her depression. On the other hand, Severus was afraid. He had lied to Lord Prince because he was afraid of being rejected by him once they discovered that his father is a muggle. Now he doesn't even know what will happen to him if his mother isn't in their home back at Cokeworth anymore. He can ignore his father Tobias, but if he's too violent after his mother escaped, he'll need help from his friends. He knows can count on them.

He makes himself forget about the matter for now. He has long months ahead of him and he plans to enjoy them fully.

The Imbolc celebration this year was the most fun of the celebrations Severus had experienced so far. As it marked the start of spring, it was celebrated outside and it started just as the sun went down. Six professors came to the celebration because they were concerned for the younger students. Because there were a lot of fire, fireworks and illegal alcohol, so they felt like they needed supervision.

It was fun and was really beautiful. All the professors participated making the most amazing and intricate fire symbols and guiding the third and up years to start making them owns.

After it was finished they went to have dinner on the Great Hall and let the people who did not participated envious while listening to their stories.

February also brought the Valentine's day. It was a muggle celebration through and through, but it was one that all the Hogwarts students liked.

On that day, Severus received over 20 cards and seven boxes of chocolate by the owls on breakfast… It was madness! But when he looked at his side, Sirius had just as much cards than him! People really loved this. What a waste of time… At least he had the chocolate boxes, they were looking quite delicious. He promptly stored them on a food pocket in his leather bag.

When the commotion was over and people started to eat their breakfast, a sweating hufflepuff boy left his table, with his breakfast still unfinished, carrying a green box with a white with red hearts bow on his hands. As he slowly walked in the direction of the Slytherin's table, people started to notice. And he arrived in front of the table, everyone was paying attention to him.

Davey coughed trying to get the attention of the boy sitting in front of where he was standing.

Severus turned himself on the bench before hesitantly getting up as he saw Davey looking at him expectantly. He couldn't believe that this was happening to him! He looked at Davey's red cheeks and he knew that his were just as red.

"Severus, you've always been there when I was having problems to study and you've always show me there you are really special and caring person. I hope that you'll be my Valentine… Some- day," Davey stammered before trusting the box forward so Severus could grab.

"Thank you," Severus said as he hesitantly accepted the gift, screaming internally from embarrassment. But before he could sit again he felt Davey getting closer to him and then suddenly he felt wet lips kissing his hot cheek.

Davey was kissing him.

People started to cheer and whistle making Severus flinch away from the boy's wet kiss. Feeling mortified with his cheeks flaming he quickly left the Great Hall with the box on his hands. But he wasn't alone though, Sirius was right by his heels.

"I can't believe that you let him kiss you, Sev!" Sirius complained just after they left people's earshot.

"I didn't let him kiss me!" Severus protested, putting a cold hand just above where Davey's lips were. "But that doesn't matter. Forget about. Wipe it out from your head!"

"Everyone saw it!"

"It was on my cheek, it wasn't a kiss!" Severus said, making kiss sound like he was saying something disgusting.

"It looked like a real kiss!" Sirius said stubbornly.

Severus stopped right on his tracks and turned to look at Sirius, frowning, "Why are you mad? He kissed me!"

"Exactly! No! I'm mean… He shouldn't have kissed you like that in front of everyone… I'm just concerned about what you are feeling…"

Severus didn't buy the excuse, but then he still didn't have idea why Sirius would be mad for him. So, he chooses to ignore him and kept walking until his entered Slytherin's empty common room and went straight to his dorm.

When he opened the box he similar drooled at what was inside it. A dozen of cute and delicious looking cauldron cakes in different flavors. They looked perfect! Severus had to bit his lips to keep himself from smiling. Davey remembered a conversation they had about him falling in love with the sweet after Yule. Now Davey had bought a dozen for him! It was so sweet of him… If he just had given it to him privately instead of in front of the whole school…

"Why are you smiling? Stop smiling!" Sirius shrieked beside him, making Severus laugh before stuffing his face with cake.

.o.

Severus first big fight with his friends, well, he only fought with James and Sirius, because Remus was on his side, occurred a week after the Valentine's.

A couple of days after the Valentine's, there were still some people making jokes of Davey, but it got quiet after new gossips started to be made. However, the worst thing happened on the day Severus thought that everything was finally over. Everyone was on the Great Hall having dinner, Sirius had just arrived and was chatting happily with him when suddenly Davey had burst into the Great Hall crying and sobbing desperately while holding his head. The reason for his desperation was pretty obvious for everyone to see: his head was at size bigger than a watermelon! Some Slytherins and Gryffindors instantaneously started to laugh aloud at the pitiful boy while Ravenclaws looked curious and Hufflepuffs sad and desperate to help their fellow housemate.

Severus, feeling angry for his poor friend, started to search for a possible culprit while the Hufflepuffs helped Davey to go to the infirmary. He had always been good at reading people, their emotions and finding- There! Malicious smirk, not laughing in surprise, just feeling smug about it, maliciousness radiating from him. Knowing the culprit, he knew he could expect a partner in crime. Severus looked at the other side of the Great Hall and there it was, the second smug expression, on James bloody Potter.

The culprits: James and Sirius.

Severus felt like hexing both of them for doing this to Davey! This was bullying and nothing could excuse this. This wasn't funny, this was humiliating for the desperate boy who clearly couldn't undo it.

"Impressive. What hex did you use?" Severus asked as if distracted by the commotion.

"Engorgio Skullus," Sirius replied proudly. "Took me a week to learn, but so worth it…"

Severus scoffed but didn't say anything, he waited a minute before he went to the infirmary to check on his friend. He arrived just in time to see him healed and hear him saying that he didn't know who did it.

"It was Sirius Black and James Potter the ones who hexed Davey," Severus said as he made himself known to the other adults after dropping his hiding charms, they were surprise to see him after clearly prohibiting everyone to enter, but his reputation as a good student made a difference in situations like this one

"This is a serious accusation, Mr. Snape," Professor Pomona said looking at him seriously.

Severus nodded his head. "I know that. They are my friends, but it doesn't mean that I'll let their unacceptable behavior go unpunished. I know that it was them who did hex Davey, so I'm telling you," Severus said serious and polite, hoping that the professor would believe on his word. After Pomona just nodding her head at him, he wished goodbye to everyone and left the infirmary.

Immediately after leaving he called James, Sirius and Remus to confront them. After learning that Remus was innocent, he spent the next thirty minutes lecturing James and Sirius about bullying and how much disappointed he was in both of them. And that for at least a week, he would not speak with any one of them not because some sort of punishment, but because he was genuinely sad with them. Ignoring the protests, Sirius about being sorry, he and Remus left them and went to the library to get away for a while.

He kept his promise and resisted against speaking with them despite the briberies and non stop one sided chatting. He spent a whole week, seven long days without talking with them, making Remus resist too and show James and Sirius that they weren't kidding when they said they hated bullying and wouldn't tolerate it.

On the eighth day, he woke up and the first thing he saw were big blue eyes hovering over him.

"What do you want, Sirius?" Severus asked sleepy, before he closed his eyes again and shifted on the bed, giving his back to Sirius.

Sirius isn't the best person to be ignored, Severus should have known better… Because seconds later a heavy body fell on the bed beside him and a long arm hugged him over the covers, making Severus trapped under them.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said reluctantly, but his tone was sincere, Severus observed, but it wasn't good enough.

"Are you saying sorry to me?" Severus asked in disbelief, feeling suddenly awake. "You should be apologizing to Davey! This is not about me! This is about what you have done to him! Can't you understand?" He asked angrily and tried to turn to look at Sirius, but the boy held him firm under the covers and against his chest.

"I understand. I swear I do! I'll apologize- Me and James will apologize to him and we promise to never do such thing to anyone else ever again." Sirius said seriously, making Severus tempted to believe in him.

He wanted believe.

"Promise me. You can do your pranks, your jokes… Whatever. But don't cross the line and turn it into bullying," Severus asked and waited for Sirius answer.

"I promise, Severus," Sirius said seriously.

Hearing the promise, Severus felt himself relax, trusting his friend that he would keep his promise. He sighed before relaxing into Sirius' hug.

Things went back to normal after that.

The first week was a bit rocky, but they soon found their rhythm again and were making harmless pranks around Hogwarts. Sirius and James had apologized in front of the whole school to Davey as their punishment. But the other students, girls mainly, instead of being aware of James and Sirius they cooed at them, for apologizing. Girls are crazy, Severus knows for a fact now.

What no one knew, not James, or Remus, or Sirius… Was that Severus had discovered Remus's secret while they were fighting with James and Sirius. For months now, James, Sirius and Severus had started to notice that something was amiss once a month with their friend. And after spending a week closer to Remus, a full moon week, he felt like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner. But then he felt afraid of Remus… It was irrational he knew, but it was how he felt. He needed to keep the information locked away in his mind palace to not let it distract him. He needed to be reminded that Remus would never hurt them. But it was hard, because after reading in so many book how dangerous a werewolf was, it takes root in you.

Severus didn't know what he should do, though. So, the best plan he had so far was to wait until summer to confront Remus by letters. He hadn't courage to bring the subject in real life.

Unfortunately, for lots of reasons, summer came way too fast. With dozens of students to tutor and his advanced projects to present to the professors on top of his regular exams, he had an extremely busy month. But it was so worth to be kept constantly mentally and magically challenged! He was exhausted and happy at the same time. Very confusing, he knows.

When the time came for him to go home, he spent the last week just like he had last time: hoarding food. He was getting sick of doing that, though, and was seriously considering starting to plant his own vegetables or something to help with his food. However, if he didn't get a certain amount of food rom Hogwarts, he would need to keep stealing and he didn't feel too prideful of doing that.

But food matters aside, he went home completely satisfied with his academic record. The best student that modern Hogwarts had ever had, didn't have a bright start, meaning that on his first and second years his grades were just a little above average. Severus however, had a full plus score with mentions of honor from the very first exam. It is something to be proud of.

After the final exam results, he received letters from his grandfather and grandmother congratulating him and also with some gifts for his accomplishments. It was mostly books, but Severus loved the gifts and attention.

All the praise, however, couldn't sweet the bitter taste of not having anyone picking him up at King's Cross. Of not having anyone waiting for him on the front door after a long walk.

Reality crashed on him fast when he entered his house. He wasn't prepared to be on it without his mother, but by the letters he received, he knew that she wasn't here anymore and the fact only became real in his mind now.

Aside from the furniture, his house was empty.

But after a few minutes on the kitchen, he noticed that it was just too empty.

Severus frowned as he started to look around for signs of his father's mess. But there wasn't anything! He ran to his parents' bedroom to try to find something that could give him- it was empty. Severus could only assume that his father had left the house after Eileen went with her parents... He ran to the final room of the house, the basement, and was relieved when he saw that his charms did hold and no one could find his mother's things. Those trunks and his own trunk on his pocket was everything that he had.

Severus was 13, alone at a rundown house with his mother's old trunks, a cat and some stolen food to survive the summer.

If someone asked to him, he would sincerely say that he has an awesomesummer ahead of him.

* * *

I want to give a huge thanks to the people who left comments on chapter 10! I forgot to thank y'all on ch11! And here is my thanks for those who left their love on ch11 and 12! You guys were so good to me that I couldn't leave you hanging and wrote this as fast as I could! Hope it met your expectations...

Here's a spoiler for you guys: Severus real first kiss will be on next chapter.

See y'all later, byyye!


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